


Pins & Patches

by RedCrossX



Series: Pins & Patches [1]
Category: Funhaus (Video Blogging RPF)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Magic, Angst, Explicit Language, FakeHaus, Folktale/Fairy Tale Characters, Good vs. Evil maybe, Magic, Magic AU, Monsters, Mythology - Freeform, Other, Punk Aesthetic, Team Bonding, Torture, Urban Fantasy, Violence, cosmic horror reference, fictional city, more to be added - Freeform, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-03-09 03:09:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13472463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedCrossX/pseuds/RedCrossX
Summary: In a city where magic runs deep, gangs scramble for any sort of power they can to take control of the place of chaos.Long gone are the days of channeling invocations and reading spell words - now magic has been pulled down into pins and patches on denim jackets, and your pin-clad punks are known to be the strongest mages. One such punk is Adam Kovic, a member of the Insiders who's just about had it with this gang's shady business practices.But a dark energy is spreading through the city. Something with a lot of power that many are trying to control and a small group of rebels is starting to form that might make up all the difference in this ancient fight.Watching them work, however? The half-angel that chose them might start to question what led him to choose them in the first place.





	1. No Regrets

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is a cool AU I've been working on. I'm not one to promise consistent uploads, but I do have a couple chapters on a backlog. So thanks for any feedback you have and I hope you enjoy!

Adam Kovic was a man whose morals were often tossed aside for the sake of survival. In fact it was a common trait that ran in his family. Take the powers, the curses, and the prophecies that would give you the best chance of surviving even if it meant shedding a little blood, or stealing a little money. His mother’s side of the family was a testament to this. Old power ran through their blood from generations past, leaving Adam as a sole heir to try and continue this legacy.

 Adam, unfortunately, was a little softer than his ancestors.

 The jacket on his back was tradition. A mismatch of patches and pins kept the denim together, seams having been sewn and re-sewn with old fabrics and materials as it was passed down from generation to generation. It had been his mother’s before his, and his mother’s mother’s before her, and imbued with the powers that had belonged to the family even before humanity learned how to place spells inside pins and use those instead. It was by this power that Adam found himself where he was right now.

 A gun sat in his hand, his eyes wide and body shaking like a blender as the frail figure knelt on the ground in front of him. Goons in blue jackets with masks gripped the shriveled man by his sleeves as blood trailed from a wound on his head, and his clothing was ripped in several places. The mark of a man severely roughed up – a man they knew had no information to offer.

 But the Insiders took no prisoners.

 “Pull the trigger, Kovic, and let’s get the fuck outta here,” One man snarled. His face was obscured by the emblematic grey skull mask associated with the Insiders.

 “Shut up,” Adam bit back.

 It was always a matter of circumstance. The Insiders took him because he had his family’s blood, and Adam joined because he’d be broke otherwise. He’d been in the wrong place at the right time, and he hoped that he’d get by just as a runner, or transport.

 Killing was not on his resume – and he didn’t plan to add it. Even now, as he stared at the man and he stared back, his eyes wide and desperate, the orange pin over Adam’s heart flickered and swirled with ancient energy that brought an orange glow to his eyes.

 Adam’s eyes started to fill with tears. He could feel the other man’s feelings all of a sudden, like a man possessed. He was terrified and desperate – his only crime seeing something he shouldn’t have. Adam could feel something else mixed in. Regret like a poison to his resolve, and a lovely longing that wrapped his tongue like sour fruit.

 The magic of Empathy was new to his mother’s line. A choice from his mom directly to marry a man from a much different background that handed down a pin from person to person, landing on Adam’s heart. It was a capricious spell that went off without warning.

 Adam tried to steady his breath, control his breathing. _You must do this, Adam. For your safety, for the sake of your legacy._

He gasped and covered his mouth with his free hand. That love for a family loss – it connected him to the main like a chain made of the strongest steel.

 He aimed again. He steadied the gun through the screen of tears.

 Before he could take the shot, however, a thick rebar spear flew right past his head…

…and impaled the man in front of him, knocking out his breath with a tortured gasp. Blood seeped from the wound on both sides as the goons holding him up took a few steps back. The man slumped over as his blood stained the pavement below him. The image of the spear painted red ingrained itself in Adam’s head as his own breath came back to him. The pain of the man broke him from his spell, but left his face pale. His gun clattered against the pavement, and he vomited despite himself. The yellowy bile mixed with the draining red blood as a woman stepped forward past him with hair dyed like steel, and eyes even harder.

Adam glanced up to her, his nerves like that of a frightened rabbit.

 “Warehouse. Tomorrow.” she ordered with a voice like ice.

The goons scattered from the place as police sirens went off in the distance, and Adam’s body seemed to make decisions for him. His mind rattled with the excruciating pain that that man had gone through in his final breaths. Insider’s slapped his back, called him a fuck up, but the words meant nothing to the haze of thoughts that scattered around his head.

 He’d fucked up. He’d let his emotions get in the way and failed a simple test of loyalty, and was left wondering once again how his family’s blood had somehow mixed up and twirled around just to pull him back into this vulnerable position.

 He heard his mom’s words in his head, and he knew exactly what she would’ve said if she was still around.

  _“Adam, your life is a gift and a promise to the rest of our family. So why do you keep throwing it away?”_

 Sure, his family line had been going on for generations, but they didn’t seem to acknowledge how the family didn’t stick around too long after making an heir. Adam, the last of them, was left with a heavy weight of legacy on his shoulders.

 And not enough tools to keep it up.

 Everything else aside, Adam was not an idiot. Any meeting that was planned one-on-one with one of the Insiders’ higher-ups after that blunder was not going to go well. Even as the thought of it made him sick, he pulled all the important pins and patches off his jacket the night before, cringing at the tearing sound of ripping his family’s emblem from its threads like it was ripping out a tree by its roots. He threw all of them into a bag before hiding them beneath a plank of his apartment’s rotting floor before digging through a drawer and pulling out a bunch of extra pins. Spells with which he was unfamiliar, and others he’d thrown away because he didn’t like how they would feel.

 His ancestry’s instinct for sensing disaster was unparalleled, and already the different weight to his jacket made it feel like it was suddenly a size too big as he wandered towards the Insider’s warehouse base in the grey of the overcast morning.

 It was already raining before he got there and it matted his hair against his head. The cold pricks of raindrops against his skin did little to assuage the knot of panic in his chest. He kept an eye over his shoulder as he heard a sound like large, flapping wings, that must’ve been thunder he just misheard.

 The guys set to guard the warehouse gave him the once-over as he approached the heavy garage door. It was with a dry laugh that one of the masked men lifted the door, and Adam wished he could sense what the man was feeling in that moment, if just to confirm that his own feelings were true.

 No one made eye contact with him as he walked out onto the asphalt of the warehouse. Heavy boxes covered in blue tarps lined up the sides, and high-rising shelfs held everything from old, decrepit crates they never moved to stashes of weapons and drugs they were known to smuggle. That was where Adam thrived in this business. The transaction, the sneaky transportation of illegal substances or messages through this mess of a city to other, smaller gangs in the area – just to keep their money and their influence under the Insiders’ thumb.

 “Adam,” a steely voice called.

 His head swung upward. On a metal catwalk stood the woman from yesterday – the Iron Maiden as she had been so cleverly named.

  _How… mundane._ Adam had thought the first time he’d met her.

 Then he watched her turn a flat piece of metal into a working rifle with just her magic power and a couple choice pins, and he’d promptly shut up.

 “His office.” She stated, hand pointing towards a small box-of-a-room in the corner of this artificial second floor.

 Adam took a deep, heavy breath as he stepped towards the rusty metal staircase that lead up to the catwalk and took each step one-by-one.

 The Iron Maiden watched with grey eyes like a scavenger bird waiting for the predator to be done with him before swooping in.

 He felt like a coffin in a funeral procession – and in one moment he opened the door.

There, in limited amber light cast by the old light on his desk, sat the elusive leader of the Insiders. To many, he was known only by the bronze rings on his fists, or the ancient metal pins that lined his leather jacket like a man on the street’s contraband watches he was trying to sell. The man practically vibrated with an ancient power he’d bullied into submission even as his ugly green eyes glared out at Adam from the shadow.

 “Kovic. Please, take a seat.”

 Adam went to move forward, but suddenly his feet were dragging across the floor. An invisible force pushed him into his seat and knocked the air out of his lungs before he could utter a word.

 And their Leader stepped out of the shadow. He was a top-heavy man with legs like toothpicks, wearing a form-fitting grey suit he was almost never seen without. It felt impossible to place him – somewhere between a Roman Emperor and a 1950s Godfather – as he pressed a gloved hand dramatically to his bald head.

“I really must say that I am disappointed in your _conviction,”_ he spat the last word, and suddenly a searing pain rushed up Adam’s throat.

 He opened his mouth to speak, but all that came was a muted yelp as something cracked in his body. The coppery taste of his own blood started to fill his mouth as he kept his eyes on the Leader. It was coming a lot faster than he expected as his forehead started to burn feverishly, and the Leader toyed with his knucklebone.

 He sat back down again. The flaring pain faded away from Adam, leaving him slumped over in his seat, chest heaving, and drenched in sweat.

“That all you have to say for yourself?” the man mused, “Disgraceful. Well, then I suppose that I must let you go.”

 Adam’s head lifted slowly. Pins and needles prickled up the back of his neck as he met the Leader’s eye warily.

 “Let… me… go?”

“Well, yes. In a figurative sense. Your services are no longer required.”

 Rain splashed against Adam’s head, and he glanced upwards. They weren’t in the office anymore. A place in the alley leading to the warehouse was cleared away, and a painted circle sat right beneath Adam, where he stood at its center.

 Despite the downpour that started to flood the street, the Leader seemed almost untouched by the rain. Even the wide-brimmed hat that now sat on his head showed no sign of dampness as his rotund face grimaced at Adam.

 “But before we toss you back to the street,” he continued as Adam watched the Iron Maiden walk out from the garage with a plate of steel tucked under one arm and several spires of rebar in the opposite hand, “I feel it’s important to leave you with a lesson.”

Adam collapsed to the ground as his chair disappeared beneath him, and with a swift kick the Leader knocked him across the circle. The collision felt like he’d flown a jet into his chest, and suddenly Adam was gulping for air, only for a gross, ugly illness to spread through his body like a rapid virus until he was throwing up bile clear enough that it faded away with the pouring rain.

 “We expect the upmost loyalty, and you don’t make the cut,” the Leader announced, walking over to grab Adam by the hair and tug him upwards.

 The pricks of pain struck Adam hard, and he couldn’t stop the tears already starting to pour down his cheeks.

 “In fact, I don’t think you’ll ever make the cut. You’re just not good enough.”

Then he dropped him. Adam tumbled into a puddle of himself on the ground – his whole body seemed unwilling to accept his desire to get up and run away as fast as humanly possible as the Leader walked away. The sides of his vision started to become cloudy as the Iron Maiden walked forward. The sheet of steel dropped with a loud clang against the pavement, followed by the bouncing bars of rebar as she took a single piece and wrapped it around her hand like it was made of fabric.

 Adam could hardly keep track of the next few minutes. Metal smashed into his bones, and he felt ever small fracture, followed by sharpness ripping through fabric and skin.

 His jacket came off by the sleeves as the Iron Maiden slid metal through the denim, and she tore it to strips. Even his jeans were ripped from him with sharp waves of metal. At some point Adam stopped feeling anything, really. He could sense his body going into shock to maybe even give him a chance of enduring it. But every cut was inevitable, and the stickiness of his blood became difficult to make out from pouring of the rain.

 Did he beg for it to stop, even? He couldn’t remember. His brain was on fire and his body stung everywhere – even to the point that he cringed with pain with each raindrop that hit him.

 He could only tell it was over when blackness started tumbling in on his vision. A heavy arm hurled him into a dumpster at the side of the alley – his landing cushioned by bags of refuse. Then, his clothes were tossed in afterwards, ripped entirely into tatters. The last remnant of his family now fell onto him in strips and scraps of old denim as he tried to urge himself to move again.

 To stay still was to die. He had to live. It’s everything that his family had told him. Survive at all costs.

 “I’m sorry… mom…” he murmured, finally gaining control of his tongue as his vision started going dark.

 Sounds faded away, except for the pitter-patter of raindrops against the side of the bin. Another rush of thunder boomed nearby, or was it the sound of flapping wings?

 The thought of winged figures coming for him seemed to be his only company as his vision started to fade. The last thing he saw was the shadow of a figure walking towards the garbage bin, accompanied by an ethereal glow.

 Then all went black.

X-X-X-X-X

 Faith was a very different question when you lived in this City. Elyse had learned that quickly when she moved here with her recently-made husband a few years ago. It wasn’t ever a question of “do you have faith?” but rather “where does your faith lie?”

 This was a city where rumors like the Greek God Dionysus owning a club down on Olympus Way couldn’t be dismissed as ridiculous; where 90% of people wore iron jewelry and kept salt in their bags as an encounter with the Fair Folk was almost expected; and a prophet of some Forgotten God and a different religious teacher would meet and have coffee every Tuesday at the café down the street that was likely owned by a charming vampire.

 (Actually, he was an Incubus, but his business was booming enough that most people didn’t really need to ask).

 So, faith ran very differently in this town, and people were more focused on protecting their own beliefs than investing charity in others.

 Which is what led Elyse to sitting alone in a fluorescent McDonalds that sat next to an old cathedral pretending like it had been there just as long as she glanced at the golden cross-shaped pin in her hand. A souvenir of the life she thought she realized what was actually going on.

 “I wanted to help people, James,” she grumbled into her phone, “and I was so sure this was the best way to do it… but they’re just as bad as the places back home.”

_“Well, back to the old drawing board,”_ James said in a goofy voice, still bringing a smile to Elyse’s face, _“You’ll figure it out Elyse. Hell, knowing you, you’ll tear down a whole establishment to make sure that everything works out.”_

“Oh yeah?”

_“Oh yeah! Once you get off your ass and do something about it.”_

Elyse rolled her eyes, but the smile stayed present even as she stared ahead at red wall in the restaurant, “Maybe I’ll just have to get shredded like you and make money off my good looks.”

James laugh rumbled through the speaker, bringing warmth like sunshine to Elyse’s downtrodden goals.

 And with a quick goodbye, she hung up and took another bite of a McDonald’s fry.

 It was a little after noon, but it was hard to tell with the thick, dark clouds that rumbled against each other outside. Her plans for the day were behind her now, and all she had to show for it was that golden pin imbued with a healing spell.

“It’s a busy city, Elyse,” she whispered to herself, “you’ll make something out of it.”

 The restaurant was eerily empty, and the sound of employees chattering in the kitchen during the dead zone ended up filling the restaurant with the vibrant sounds of teenagers moving forward, planning their lives out, and pushing towards the paths laid out before them. Elyse fussed with corners of her worn leather jacket – a gift from James for the girl who had never been to the big city.

  _“Everyone has one. How else are you gonna get that magic to flow?”_

Elyse was used to red-black flannel, but that wasn’t the style around here. With a careful hand she replaced the cross pin right next to the fake-gold zipper as her hand brushed against the patch on the other shoulder. It was shaped simply like a blue kite shield.

 For basic protection, the woman she’d bought it from had said.

 Delving further into her carton of fries, the next thing to pull her from her own stupor was the sound of automatic doors opening…

Or rather, the sound of a simple bell. These doors didn’t have bells on them last she checked.

 Carefully her eyes lifted to scan the store. The chattering of the employees didn’t die out, but Elyse noticed a man walking towards her. Each step seemed to ring like a windchime as he took a seat across from her on the laminate table.

 “Elyse Willems, yes? I had a feeling I would find you here.”

 She stared him in the eye, or at least she tried. For some reason it was difficult to stare at his face for too long, and other than giving the impression of someone out of this world, she suddenly understood the man in worded facts despite the image that eluded her.

 Shimmery blond hair, a gentle smile, and a brown duster jacket with boots the same color.

 “And you are?” she asked hesitantly.

 The man chuckled softly, and the sound seemed to resonate peace like witnessing the _Aurora Borealis._ He seemed to make the room lighter somehow.

 “My name… let’s go by Eli,” the man shrugged, “but more importantly, you should be asking-“

“How do I know you?” Elyse mimicked, making clear her dissatisfaction with the man’s know-it-all attitude, “I’m guessing you’re some supernatural asshole who decides that I owe him a favour or something.”

 Silence. The space between them seemed to shrink, and the unnatural glow he gave off flickered away. Suddenly, a different figure was sitting in front of her. His figure the same, same for his clothing, but she could make out his facial features. Downtrodden eyes, a tired jaw, as Elyse started to cool off.

 “His name’s Adam Kovic,” the man said suddenly, “I found him, he’s dying, and I need a talented healer. Healing is above my pay grade, unfortunately.”

 Elyse stared at him again. Suspicion was still at a high, but there was some truth to the man’s words she sensed – whether he was a man or not.

 And she was looking for some way to help…

 “Alright – show me where this guy is. I’ll help him.”

 The man’s vibrant light came back in a flash, like a torch had been reignited on his skin. With a flash he dropped a gold-lined pin on the table in the image of a dove as he pushed his seat back in.

 “Use that spell. It will lead the way. I, unfortunately, need to be somewhere else.”

 With a sound like thunder, the man disappeared, leaving Elyse now with a carton of empty fries and a pin in the shape of a dove. The sound of the restaurant seemed to come back into focus even though she wasn’t sure if she could remember the sound fading out in the first place. Maybe it was just the liminal nature of a chain restaurant, but Elyse’s focus now was on the pin on the table in front of her and the doors leading out towards a new potential destiny.

 The spell did exactly as it was intended. The moment Elyse pressed a little magic into it on her jacket, a golden bird fluttered into view right on her shoulder, then it took off down the road. With a huff; Elyse chased after it in the rain, tugging a hood over her head from beneath her jacket as she took off down the road. The rain had evolved from a drip into a downpour, and Elyse did her best to dodge past other figures beneath hoods and umbrellas. No one else seemed to notice the bird but her as she spun through the labyrinthine roads and alleyways that spread out from the city.

 The bird’s graceful flight ignored the environment, and Elyse chased after it as fast as she could. People may have been staring at her jog/sprint like she was some alien form since no one seemed to run in these damn cities, but the people dwindled away as a flash of lightning streaked across the sky, until all at once the bird came to a halt in front of a building with a gentle flutter and Elyse skidded to a halt. The bird sat still for a moment, then shot towards the doorway of an old building, disappearing through the wooden door as though it never existed in the first place.

 Elyse’s eyes travelled up the building. The older structure with its rusty bricks and a pair of boarded up front gates. Glancing around, the street seemed almost empty, and definitely on a shadier edge of town. The red _CONDEMNED_ sprayed in red letters across a plank of wood that boarded the two gates shut, but that seemed to be the only resistance to entrance. She stepped towards it, on broken concrete side walk and up a thick concrete step.

  Despite how it looked, with menacing chains and boarded up windows, the wood blocking the door slid away with a gentle push. In fact, Elyse managed to open the door with little resistance at all as she stumbled into the old apartment building. The place looked like it had been frozen in time about 20 years ago. An old carpet rotted away in the lobby, old mailboxes rusted either open or close in the corner, and even the front desk, made of old fake wood and papers, that were nothing but wet pulp at this point, seemed to give the impression of a place that maybe once had some character. Now, she was sure she heard the sound of rats scurrying through holes.

 She pressed her hand to the pin again and closed her eyes as she grasped for that familiar feeling of magic that pumped through blood as smoothly as it pumped through blood as smoothly as it pumped through air. The bird emerged once more from her, and with the extra spark it twirled towards a stair and headed upward and upward. With the wind of adventure behind her, she started skipping up the steps – with their carpet torn in places and holes bitten away by the present pests she found herself up on the fourth floor, treading through a ruined apartment complex, but for Elyse it was like an ancient ruin with secrets to hold and a canary to lead her away from its traps… or towards them. The bird finally disappeared behind one last door. The number 407 was seen on it, though the plated metal 0 had long disappeared, leaving only a pale outline on the wood behind it.

 Thunder roared outside, and Elyse couldn’t help but flinch as the building creaked like an older man who’d seen a little too much work in his time. Her eyes tilted to the door. The last impediment to the person standing supposedly behind the door. She hadn’t tossed away the possibility that she was being toyed with by creatures that she didn’t understand. But she was here now. Her hand was on the old doorknob, and the door swung open with a delicate squeak that, for a moment, made her wonder if it would swing off its hinges.

 “Hello?” she called, “Adam?”

No noise called out in response. All she really heard was a struggling breath, but that was all that was needed for her instincts to kick in.

 She busted into the room. There, lying in what looked like a shirt and a pair of pants both a couple sizes two big, was a man wrapped in bandages. His breath sounded weak and strained as he approached with her hand over the cross. It was a quick flurry of movements that brought her into action.

 One hand pulled the pin off her jacket and she wrapped fingers around it. Her lips moved rapidly in an incoherent prayer as she held out her free hand and pressed it against the man’s chest. Rain smashed against the glass door to a balcony and lightning flashed outside as Elyse pressed her eyes shut and focused on sensations. Two sources of life flickered next to each other and Elyse felt sparks from the pin in her hand and from the power in her heart as they surged towards Adam’s life force like fireflies. Death was clouding in at the edges, but her power brought back a surge of life as gashes on his skin faded to scars, bruise changed from sickly blacks and blues to softer colours, and even the blood that stained his skin seemed to be wiped away in the supernatural light.

 Then, there was a pause. Elyse tumbled into a nearby chair, gasping for breath. Her chest rose and fell like a balloon that was filled to its brink before releasing all the air once more, and the thunder outside felt natural again as exhaustion pricked her nerves. Her time at the church had at least taught her some of the basics of health, and her mom being a doctor helped on that front too as she moved towards the bed and pulled away at the bandages.

 “Oh, shit,” she gasped, hands coming to cover her hands as she witnessed the scars going up his arms and his chest. A large gash went from the tip of his forehead across his nose, and while the scars would remain as awful reminders; her eyes could see him in his bloodied state, now stabilized, now resting.

 “The fuck happened to you,” she murmured to herself, and only then did she catch sight of a small bag sitting on a side table. It was made of a brown fabric, with frayed strings tying it shut, but she was already sure that she knew what was coming.

 There was a flash of light in the room. Elyse spun around to see the man from the restaurant caught in a glow the disappeared in a blink, revealing vibrant, worried eyes as he rushed to the side of the old bed.

 “Is he alright? Were we too late?” the man almost shouted, provoking Elyse to run over and shut the door.

 “He’s fine. He’s resting now,” Elyse muttered dryly, “which means we should _stay quiet.”_

“Right. Yes. Sorry.” The man stammered, and Elyse was left to roll her eyes a she stumbled back into the chair from before.

 “Where’d you dig up this guy, anyway? The stuff done to him was no ordinary street fight,” Elyse asked carefully as her fingers coursed through Adam’s short hair. The man responded positively as his body seemed to shift into a more comfortable position, but still refused to leave the realm of unconsciousness.

 The man paused only for a moment to place a bag on a side table in the tiny apartment. He was quick to toss a bottle of water to Elyse who managed to catch it (surprising herself) before he placed another right next to Adam for his awakening.

 “Well… I found him in a dumpster actually.”

 Elyse raised an eyebrow, and the man obliged her curiosity.

 “He… was tossed out by the Insiders-“

“The Insiders?” Elyse dropped the water bottle and it bounced against the old carpet floor, “You brought me in here to help out a-

“Former Insider, yes,” the man snapped, “but he’s important, and he needed help.”

There was a creaking noise from down the hall, and both their heads swung towards the hallway.

 “It’s alright, they’ll be fine. But I can’t be here,” the man said at once, and Elyse turned to him with a vicious glare.

 “Don’t you dare you fucking –“

 The man disappeared in a flash of light, and Elyse had to bite her tongue to keep her profanities at bay. There was only the sound of Adam shuffling behind her, stomping coming down the hallway. In a single moment, it was almost like the world flipped upside down.

 A door slammed open. Adam shuffled out from his sleeping daze, three figures stumbled into the room all at once, one of them pointing a pistol directly at Elyse’s head as she lifted her hands in defense for a moment, but then something finally came to her attention. A broad, very familiar man put the gun away as his wide blue eyes matched Elyse’s in shock.

“James?” she shouted.

“Elyse?  He responded in turn.

 “What the fuck are you doing here?” they both said in unison.

 And with a quick shuffle and a strained yawn, Adam pulled himself into the situation.

“What the fuck is going on?”


	2. United

 Adam was still foggy on some of the details when he came back to consciousness. Granted, he’d expected not to see anything but the void of blackness one’s consciousness went to when you died. What he didn’t expect to see was what later turned out to be a (beautiful) husband and wife in the middle of what appeared to be a rather interesting domestic dispute. It was the memories of the day before that next came to him as he gulped at the bottle of water left to its side. Once he’d processed the clothes that weren’t his (where did his jacket…oh. Right) and the scars (Jesus was it that bad?); he finally acknowledged that he wasn’t alone in the smaller bedroom of this small apartment.

 Two men stood at the foot of the bed with beaten leather jackets over their shoulders. One of them still had a grey hood of his hoodie still hung over his head as he seemed to curl in on himself like his body heat would disappear if he moved, and the other was a good amount taller. Goggles curved around the top of his head, and Adam focused quickly on the dark patches on their shoulders. The image of a violet skull on a set of black spikes like a growing rose was prevalent to his newly-awakened eyes, even as a slight sting of pain curled around his nerves.

“Sorry about this,” the taller figure said with a squeamish smile, “Turns out our friendly neighborhood jackass over here didn’t think it necessary to tell his wife what he was up to.”

 Adam nodded carefully. His brow furrowed skeptically as his hand found its way to his bag of pins. He wasn’t sure how it ended up here, but there was no doubt that it belonged to him. The scraps of denim tied around the bag were proof enough even before he looked inside for his pins.

 A pang of longing struck his heart as a memory of discussions of the tradition of bloodline came to him from his faded past, now staring at strips of denim and understanding that this was no longer a jacket he’d be able to pass forward. If he would have someone to pass it to at all. He pulled the orange heirloom pin out from the satin sack and rolled his thumb over the front. The image sparked and swiveled, but the power wasn’t there yet.

 Adam was sure that the almost-dying probably had something to do with that as his attention wandered back to the other men in the room.

 The one who spoke before leaned forward as if to get a better look, “So, you’re a former Insider, yeah?”

 Adam responded with a curt nod, “Yeah. Unfortunately, I was canned earlier today.”

“Canned, huh?”

“Yeah. Literally.”

 The man snorted, though he tried to cover his mouth as Adam found his lips curling into his usual wry smile. At least they couldn’t rob him of his sarcasm.

 The man reached out with a hand.

“Name’s Bruce,” he said as Adam took the handshake.

“Adam.”

“Nice to meetcha, Adam,” he grinned before pointing back over his shoulder, “and the man set for the Antarctic over there is Matt Peake.”

The man waved carefully as he tugged in tighter on himself.

“We actually have a lot in common, the three of us,” Bruce continued as he started to wander around the apartment.

 Bruce seemed to be looking for the best place to be, settling on leaning against a wall in the smallish bedroom as Adam watched him wander. Adam personally would rather do anything other than stand up at this point, so he was more than okay letting someone else do all the movement for him. He was still drawn to the mens’ leather jackets that didn’t seem to leave their sides, and the large number of patches all over the arms and back suggested a large amount of power.

 “You don’t say?” Adam responded.

Bruce nodded, “Well, we recently had to quit our gang too. Ever heard of the Nightmare Riders?”

Adam’s eyes widened, “That’s that one biker gang, right? The ones who cause havoc all up the East Coast.”

“They started as monster hunters,” Matt mumbled, though took no step to move from his position, “but recently they decided they weren’t making enough money doing that.”

 “Which is fair,” Bruce shrugged a bit as his eyes grew hard. Adam suddenly felt like he was looking at a statue with its stoic stare.

 Until his chest heaved with a might sigh, “But smuggling things down the coast for the Insiders was not something that Matt and I enjoyed.”

“So… you quit?” Adam inferred.

“’Deserted’ is a better word,” Matt stated, “Riders ride for Life.”

“So, we ditched the motorcycle and bailed to the city to find something else to do,” said Bruce, “Namely, taking down the Insiders once and for all.”

“Which is why I was more than willing to join!”

 The heavy apartment door clattered shut as old hinges squealed in protest. Elyse and James stumbled back into the room to a sight of the three men catching up. Elyse squeezed James’ hand for a moment before she moved back over to Adam’s side and started pulling at the bandages again.

 “Oh good, it’s healing up,” Elyse muttered mostly to herself as Adam stared at the crown of her head, “I’m still amazed that you’re still alive.”

“And I have you to thank for that?” Adam questioned, “How did you drag me here from a dumpster anyway? We’re at least thirty blocks from the Insider Warehouse if I know my streets.”

Elyse shook her head and tugged at the sleeves of her jacket, “I’ll explain later. But all I can say is that it involves an asshole with a little more magic power than he probably deserves.”

“Well, I appreciate it,” Adam smiled softly as he pulled at the bandages from the top of his shoulder, helping Elyse pull the whole thing away in a single tug.

 His arms, all things considered, were feeling alright. What he was going to need to get used to was the countless numbers of white scars like stripes running up his body. Most of his pain had been reduced to a muted ache even as the Iron Maiden’s handiwork would forever be displayed on his skin.

 Something inside him started to burn. A searing force rushing up his body as he felt his muscles stiffen at the thought, as a pin prick appeared in his future that he was so desperate to reach out and take.

“I’m still trying to figure out how you guys found our base,” James muttered as Adam’s eyes narrowed in on the beefy man.

 “You said you wanted to take down the Insiders?” Adam stated, “I want in.”

 James paused, and Elyse seemed to lean back as the two men stared at each other, and James’s eyes began to glimmer. She knew that look – the raw passion that would either part the sea or burn the city to the ground.

 “Oh, thank God,” Bruce eased back against the wall again, “This idiot thought the three of us would stand a chance.”

“Oh, no fucking way, you’d all be toast,” Adam swung his legs off the bed and stood up slowly, only for Elyse’s hand to be on his chest in seconds pushing him back to the bed before he could resist. It was with some reluctance that Adam realized his muscles weren’t doing anything to stop the movement before he saw the white rage in Elyse’s eyes.

 Elyse shook her head, “You idiots want to take down one of the biggest gangs in the city alone? That’s the craziest fuckin’ thing I’ve heard all day!”

“Elyse-“

“You didn’t let me finish,” She snapped, shushing James with a move of her hand, “I was going to say that I’m more than ready for something crazy – but that doesn’t mean we jump in without making sure we’re completely ready.”

 Bruce stood up at once, and as he cleared his throat the room twisted to him as his presence became commanding. A strange way that a leader could sometimes be established without debate or complication, but by some miracle Bruce fit the bill.

 “No stronger unifying force than mutual hate, I always say.” Bruce beamed, “So – today’s the day we form Team ‘Take Down the Insiders’!”

 “Whatever works, I guess,” Adam yawned from his place on the bed.

 Adam glanced at Elyse, her eyes still staring at him gravely as he swung his feet down back to the floor. The idea of lying down when this was happening sent a strange level of discomfort to his moral coil that he shouldn’t take this standing down.

 No, surviving wasn’t enough anymore. These people had tossed him away like a rotten apple, peeled of his skin and expected to leave him without a trace of himself. This was the best way to get what he wanted, and as his fingers curled into a fist he stood up from the bed, turned to the rest of the group, and gave a firm nod.

 “Alright. Let’s team up… or something. God that’s such a cliché line.”

Despite her initial disapproval, Elyse couldn’t help but snort as a mix of muffled laughter swirled around the room. But Adam standing up seemed to be the forward motion they needed. Bruce led the way out of the room as the group fell into pattern. Elyse kept awkwardly pinned to Adam’s side as though fearing he would collapse at any moment, and they descended down the staircase they came. The thunder outside had started to quiet, and the tapping of rain was difficult to hear as a heavy downpour fell to a quiet hush of rain.

 The descent down was unusual for Adam, and he trudged carefully to avoid some of the spaces of damage on the steps, moving away carefully from anything that suggested it might fall through. Bruce, James, and Matt didn’t stop in the lobby like he’d expected them to, however.

 “We have a base set up in the basement,” Matt said softly as Elyse and Adam caught up, watching as James pressed his hand against a door, and the white wing patch on the back of his denim jacket flashed silver for a moment before the wall in front of them disappeared in a flash of light, and revealed a concrete staircase down towards the basement of this abandoned apartment.

 “It’s way harder to find a place to set up shop than you’d think,” James explained as they group headed down into a fluorescently-lit basement, “So, we needed to find a place that was out of the way of the other gangs around here and didn’t piss anyone off.”

“Which is why you hid it underneath a condemned building literally at the opposite side of the city from our apartment,” Elyse replied with clenched teeth.

 James paled at the comment as they stumbled downstairs, but in typical fashion he cleared his throat as his feet hit the floor, and the place opened around them. Curtains hung from the ceiling and separated their base into multiple areas. A set of cots hid behind a makeshift wall built at the last moment with a stack of first-aid kits stacked against the wall. A table sat along the furthest wall with several computers and monitors set up around the desk in the form of an information center, and a little to the left was a pin-maker with several pins and patches scattered across it. A sink and a shower were cordoned off in a back corner, and a long table, scattered with take-out boxes and old papers, took up a large portion of the basement space in the first visible area. The most off-putting thing for Elyse was the wall to the left of the stairs. Guns hung from racks with what looked like a baseball bat down below. For the most part they seemed beat-up and scratched, but also like they’d been sitting there for a long time.

 With magic, Elyse thought, the weapons probably weren’t that useful. There was a moment of apprehension about how this would all even help that kind of danced at the back of her mind, but the anchored image of Adam’s scarred, bloody, and damaged body was a firm reminder of the significance of their role.

 “… there’s a couple apartments upstairs we’ve rigged with running water and things just so we have some places to sleep and cook,” Matt’s voice came through as he showed Adam around.

 Adam offered a curt nod, “The beds down here, then…”

“Medical, or if we’re working hard and don’t have a lot of time.”

 “Not bad,” Adam scratched at the back of his neck, and he caught his breath again as a wave of nausea caused him to stumble.

 In a blink, Elyse and James were at his sides, catching him though he was already pushing them away as Bruce looked over his shoulder with a knowing glance to Matt before he brought his phone to his ear.

 Despite his protests, Adam was pulled towards the table on a folding chair. His bag of pins clattered around in his hands as he stumbled to his seat with a huff. Not one to enjoy being treated like some glass sculpture; his heavy frown stood testament to his frustration with both his new friends and his recovering body.

 The surprising thing about the basement base was that it didn’t feel too alien. Some posters put up around the walls of a couple popular video games, and a shelf of movies in the corner made it feel almost like a person belonged there.

 And then water dripped on Adam’s head and he was officially done with the place as he reached at his shoulders where his jacket would be and stopped.

 Right. That.

 Bruce and Matt took seats at the table suddenly, and Elyse and James were soon to follow. Everyone’s eyes focused on Bruce when he at last put his phone down and looked up to Adam.

“Alright. First order of business – we need to get you some magic,” Bruce pointed at Adam with a dominant finger, and Adam was quick to nod in response.

 “Yeah. That would be great.”

 “That’s what our contacts in the Darkroads are for,” Bruce announced as he pushed his phone onto the table. A map of the city was displayed with a few important marks as Adam narrowed his eyes.

 “We all probably need to get kitted up a bit,” James leaned over the phone, “plus getting group-binding spell could be real helpful.”

“Dark roads… There’s something there that the Insiders wanted,” Adam spoke up, “I needed to run a few things back and forth to a few of the places there. Most of the magic artifact crafters and things run their stuff through that district if you don’t want to end up with junk pins.”

“All the more reason for us to get there,” Matt muttered.

 Adam stood up quickly, and his whole body seemed to shudder before he tumbled back into his seat. Elyse placed a hand on his shoulder as he sighed in defeat.

 “…Or maybe, we should wait a little bit.”

 With a heavy groan, Adam pulled his orange pin out of his pocket once more, like he was sympathizing for a pet without a home.

“I guess…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short one, folks. Next few chapters should be a little bit longer.
> 
> as always,
> 
> enigmatic-cyborg.tumblr.com  
> (I will post mirrors on tumblr at some point i promise)


	3. Power

At this point, Adam had grown used to living in smallish spaces with other people. Having his own apartment when he was part of the Insiders was really an illusion to the fact that he was basically shackled to his job by the ankles. What made this time different was that, for some reason, Adam wasn’t worried about one of the others stabbing him in the back. Ambition was the Insiders drug (well, besides what they sold) and there were many small fry who would do everything including stabbing their partner in the back if it meant they could get into the boss’s good books. Yet here, Elyse kept using her healing magic even though Adam was sure he didn’t need; James was constantly asking him questions about his interests with his divinely blue eyes staring right into his head; and even Bruce and Matt only expressed kindness to him, but also a strong desire to stand by their current goal.

 For these people, the promise of teamwork was worth as much if not more than their goal.

 So, the five of them made their way out onto the streets of the city one Thursday night with the aim of achieving their goal. The sky remained cloudy and blocked out any last potential of seeing stars past the bright street lights as the group made their way to a darker side of town. The streets flickered neon with old signs holding onto their light with the last of their strength, old cardboard blocked up storefronts, and the usual walking livelihood you expected from walking down the main roads was replaced with almost silence.

Adam curled into the sweater James lended to him a little tighter. Even as part of the Insiders; this part of town sent his nerves into knots. Elyse bumped into his side momentarily, practically shoving him at James with a clever smile as James pat him on the back. Adam tugged at the zipper to hide the unusual warmth that flashed across his face.

 Bruce came to a halt at the corner of an intersection, and the rest of the group stopped behind him. Bruce scratched at his scattered facial hair as his gaze traveled upwards towards a scratched, flickering stop-light that had likely been left untouched for a couple months now before he turned back to the group and grinned.

 “Alright, here’s the place!” He announced and waved to the street like a showman.

 James’ eyes narrowed, “the Dark Roads start here…” he questioned.

 Sure enough, Adam was equally confused. The Dark Roads was effectively a magic black market that many were aware of but few knew how to access. As he stared down the street, seeing more of the trashed and abandoned storefronts and buildings.

 It was then that Bruce tapped at the side of his jacket. A small pin in the shape of a black key started to flicker a deep purple, then Bruce pushed his hand against the walk button on the broken streetlight.

 The flickering light started to flicker faster. Green, yellow, red, flickering over and over at an increasing speed before in one moment all three lights flashed bright white as the street in front of them appeared to melt away like chalk under a hose’s spray, and the street came to light.

 Suddenly all manner of activity burst from around them as they stepped across the street. It was like stepping through an air bubble as the clouds in the sky started to swirl and spiral like a famous Van Gogh and the noises of a busy market erupted from around them.

 “It’s a pretty complex piece of magic I gotta admit,” Bruce explained as the pressed past a group of figures in grey hoodies, “In fact, I’m pretty sure that no one really knows how it happened.”

 “Where’d you get the key then?” Elyse asked even as magic baubles and artisan pins pulled her attention, and was that a person with horns?

 Bruce dropped the pin back in his back pocket, “Some people know how to make keys. The magic hiding away this place, though? It’s a goddamn mystery.”

“Which one is their place again?” Matt asked Bruce carefully as he kept his hands in his pockets.

 Adam knew that a lot of the stuff he transported was often bought around this place, but generally, he was the one making exchanges with some of their other suppliers rather than taking it directly from the district. Regardless, the place vibrated with strange magics and the strangers everywhere did little to calm his rapidly beating heart. He barely noticed as James pulled him out of the middle of the road, and down one of the little side alleys within the strange magic space.

 James flicked Adam in the forehead and brought him back to his senses, “Earth to Adam, you with us?”

“What? Oh,” he blinked, only now realizing that they were standing off to the side, “where are we?”

“We’re here,” Bruce announced, and then he knocked on a sealed wooden door.

 Out of the way of the main street, this building with a flat storefront displayed a broken neon sign that once flickered “OPEN” at potential guest – otherwise the whole place was building up dust. The door was ugly and scratched, damaged by time and age before they had even arrived at it. The building, compared to the colorful streets outside, seemed almost desaturated.

 The door swung open quickly, and a head poked out. Dark hair and dark eyes framed behind a pair of black-rimmed glasses stared out at them and quickly scanned the group.

 “Well, don’t just stand out here.” He announced, his voice sounding rushed and impatient, “Get the fuck in here. Who knows who the hell is watching!”

 His head pushed back into the store, and they followed in line to a room that’s appearance of disarray was clearly a guise for the busy work going on. Racks of jackets hung from the wall and a pin-press with numerous bits of colorful symbols and metal pins scattered across a heavy workshop table.

 Adam was about to say something when he noticed the figurine of an anime girl on the desk when their current correspondent stepped out of the back room once more.

 “Alright, you’re here, which means you’ve rethought my offer then, Dark Riders?” The man said with a knowing smirk.

 Bruce chuckled softly, “Sort of. The initial deal… changed a bit.”

 “Ah,” the man tapped his head as he wandered back over to the table covered in pins and started pressing some pins together. His varsity-style jacket appeared to have had many of its initial patches stripped off to leave space for many new pins and patches that covered the swatches of leather and fabric, “So you’re finally following my advice.”

 “Sorry,” Elyse raised her voice, “Who is this guy again?”

 “I am Lawrence Sonntag, pin-maker and magic supplier extraordinaire,” he announced with a theatrical bow.

 Adam couldn’t help but scoff, “So, you’ve been trying to get Bruce to make his own group, then?”

 “More or less,” the man responded, standing back up and spinning around dramatically, “I’ve been getting bored, you see. Bored of selling the same boring charms to the same boring people. I want to be _part_ of something.”

“And we do have space for a technician,” Bruce nodded.

“Oh. So you’ve already established roles for us. Perfect,” Adam deadpanned.

Bruce flashed his trademark grin like he was the smartest man on the planet as he moved over and placed his hand on Lawrence’s shoulder.

 “We’ve known each other for a while,” Bruce explained as Lawrence slowly pulled away, “and if he’s looking for an adventure, what better than trying to take down some Insider ass?”

 “Then he can start,” James pushed Adam forward, “by getting this man a new jacket.”

Lawrence stepped forward suddenly, his eyes met Adam’s all of a sudden, and then his eyes narrowed. Like a computer, he analyzed Adam from head to toe, and before Adam could even make a move Lawrence had pulled the pins he was reaching to take out of his hands and brought them over to his table.

 “Hey, uh – I kinda need –“

“You have nothing to worry about,” Lawrence explained, “Just gimme a second.”

 There was a knock on the door, and six heads swiveled towards the entrance. Lawrence’s body cringed at the sound as he pulled away from the new project and looked up the stairs.

 “Shit. Forgot about that…” he turned to the group, pointing a finger in a swooping motion at all of them.

 “You all need to hide upstairs right now.”

“Hide?” Elyse asked as she stepped away from a row of denim jackets.

 “I don’t see why they can’t be in here,” Matt mumbled.

 “They can’t be _in here_ because I may have set an appointment with the Insiders about an object they want but can’t have.”

 An awkward silence filled the room.

  _“_ You have an _appointment_ with the Insiders?” Adam snapped, and Lawrence, in one last moment, tapped a pin at the side of his jacket and reappeared behind Adam in a flash of red light.

 “Yes and I’ll explain everything but you need to get upstairs _now._ ”

 James and Elyse latched on to Adam’s arms and pulled him upstairs struggling. Lawrence waited at the bottom step for the tell-tale sound of a shutting door before the door swung open with a jingle of a bell.

 “Why is this friend of yours meeting with them?” Adam demanded, almost pushing Bruce into the wall before the man stood his ground, “Can we even trust him.”

“He’s just doing business, Adam,” Bruce retorted.

Matt stepped between them, and Elyse was quick to follow. In a moment the pair had separated as they were pulled to opposite ends of the dusty room. James, on the other hand, was already taking a seat on an old chair tucked into the corner as he took a deep breath.

 “Look – if he was really gonna double-cross us, he probably wouldn’t have said anything,” James stated, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

 “Seeing as most of us are either deserters or abandoned by some of the most powerful groups in the city, it makes sense for us to be on our toes,” Matt explained, “and people who make their living by selling things to the big gangs aren’t going to just stop doing that because they asked for help.”

“Once we clear away the competition, though…” James cackled devilishly, only to be interrupted as Elyse practically knocked him over and took a seat next to him.

 Without much else to do as they heard murmurs through the floorboards; Adam entertained himself by walking around the room. There weren’t too many personality identifiers, really, other than a couple scraps of fabric that found themselves scattered over the place, a couple chair stacked near the back where James and Elyse sat, and a pair of other doors that they missed when they entered the first time. In his curiosity, he turned the doorknob on the first door and it swung open to find a bathroom.

 The second door was locked tight.

 There was a banging on the bottom floor. Suddenly, and the whole group froze as Lawrence sauntered up the steps.

 “Alright. Hopefully they’ll stay away for now. Sorry. Assholes keep coming by wanting to take my shit.”

 The moment his boot stepped on the top floor; the locked door began to rattle. Lawrence with a frustrated sigh stumbled over to the other doorway as he took a pin from inside a pocket and pressed it against the side of his collar. In a moment his hand flashed a deep blue as he pushed his fingers against the door. With a burst of blue flame the door flew off its hinges and clattered across the floor.

 “Dan, it’s okay. I sent them away. Sorry about the door.”

 The group peeled around the corner, and a large man pulled himself out from behind a door. A large book sat beneath his arms. Elyse’s eyes fixated on the heavy tome, as though she could sense that something was off.

 “S-sorry about that,” Dan muttered, “I… I’ve been having… difficulties letting this go.”

“Plus letting the Insiders have it would not be the best idea.” Lawrence acknowledged.

 But Elyse was quick to jump in. Her hand moved towards Dan slowly even as he flinched away, “Wait… that’s not…”

 “It’s a Necronomicon,” Dan explained, even as he backed into the wall.

“You- you have a fucking Necronomicon?” Adam sputtered as Lawrence stepped defensively in front of Dan.

 The man himself, while pretty tall, stared back at the group nervously. He looked prepared to say something, but then the book flashed purple, and his mouth felt shut. Just by looking at him, Bruce could see a sickly pallor come to his skin, his eyes appeared sunken and tired as they scanned a group. In a moment, with a cough, Lawrence led everyone back downstairs and sat Adam down.

 “Are you worried about those guys coming back?” Adam asked as Lawrence pulled a tape measure out from a desk and started it rolling around his sleeves.

 Lawrence, deep in focus, shook his head, “Nah. I sent them on their way. There’s enough ambient magic rolling around here that we can throw them off their trail.”

Adam chuckled, “Amateurs.”

 At that, Lawrence paused and pulled at the strap of denim that was wrapped around his wrist. His eyes narrowed as he pulled it away.

 And he got to work on another jacket immediately. Lawrence was surprisingly deft with his hands and his magic as multiple pins down the inside of his jacket flickered and changed in their colors as he pulled some fabrics and pins together around Adam’s shoulders.

 Elyse found herself sitting on the steps next Dan. James and Bruce whispered off in the corner of the shop as Matt pulled out his phone and started tapping on some app.

 “Quite the crowd you have here,” Dan mumbled carefully as his posture remained rigid.

Elyse nodded, and sure enough she found herself in a place of looking at this ragtag group that had formed around them. Lawrence was in the depth of his work as plans were sourced here and there.

 “Yeah, it’s… something we’re all getting used to,” she stated, and then tried to jump on some subject just to keep the conversation going, “So, have you been hiding here long?”

 Dan shook his head, “No, actually.”

 His hand brushed over the old, tattered book in its hand. A strange orb on the front of the black book swirled and spiraled and for a moment Elyse thought she saw something like an eye poke out from it beneath the inky blackness.

 “This belonged to my last roommate,” Dan said quietly as he noticed her gaze, “My family’s magic is lithomancy, actually.”

“Lithomancy?”

“Yeah.”

 He reached into the pocket of his dark jacket as he pulled out a green button. Traced on it in black ink was an image reminiscent of Stonehenge, and the moment it touched his hand a patch in the shape of an eye flickered on the side of his jacket.

 “It’s a type of fortune telling,” Dan explained, “It involves using various stones to tell the future. I’ve gotten pretty good at it – all things considered.”

 “So, coming to Lawrence was something you… foresaw?”

Dan sighed, but Elyse saw a softening of features as he glanced up at Elyse. His soft, brown eyes gave way to a gentle smile.

 “Not really. I saw… bad news coming, and going to Lawrence seemed to make the most sense. Especially after my roommate turned into dust.”

 Elyse’s face paled. There were always some magics that she found to be a little beyond her pay grade. But she didn’t get a chance to respond before a heavy knocking bashed against the door once more.

 Adam leapt to his feet – the last stitch pulling into his jacket as Lawrence spun around and the magics sparkling around his hands flickered away. Matt and Bruce stood up at once almost in unison.

 This time, they didn’t wait for a response as the door flew off its hinges with a resounding crack and went flying towards the stairway. Matt leapt over the flying door almost casually with magic beginning to crackle through his leather jacket as a douchebag with his own jacket and sunglasses stomped into the room. In a flash, Elyse was standing in front of Dan as two more figures approached from behind.

 Adam’s face narrowed to a frown when a familiar symbol came to his eye. On the shoulder of the three figures was the Insider’s Insignia already returned to mock him.

 His attitude changed immediately, however, when he was greeted with the steely gaze of the Iron Maiden already gazing down at them.

 “Larr, buddy – we told ya to let us know if anyone was coming by,” the first man snickered as he snapped his fingers again.

 Lawrence was blasted across the room by a concussive force, and Adam’s new jacket dropped on his shoulders. Immediately Adam grappled with his pocket of pins and started to skirt through it.

 Elyse paled. There was little magic on her that was affiliated with combat. So, instead she turned to Dan.

 “We need to get that book out of here.”

 Dan nodded quickly and the pair rushed for the stairs, but she only made it a step upwards before a wall like glass appeared in front of them. Elyse slapped into the wall, Dan bouncing right into her back, and the book went flying out of his hand in a moment as the second figure, a woman with short blond hair kept on hand near the pin on her chest and the other directed towards them as the book skirted down the staircase.

 Bruce and Matt leapt towards the group, their hands glowing vibrantly as a similar pin on the sides of their jacket flashed with arcane energy. In a moment, a thin glowing blade appeared in their hands as they swung towards the first man and sent him flying in an arc of blue and purple fire. The Iron Maiden stepped in to respond quickly as a pole of rebar strapped to her back flattened to a sharp edge as she swung forward. Matt ducked. Bruce caught the blade with his own and the sound flashed across the room as she started to push Bruce backwards.

 Adam watched carefully – attaching pins to the side of his jacket in a rush as his mind spun in circles. What were they doing here? Why did they have to be here now, when the memory of sharp steel ripping him into ribbons was still fresh on his mind. His hand found his heirloom pin, and as he threw it onto the dark jacket that hung from his shoulders, his eyes flashed a vibrant orange as that magic empathy rushed through his heart.

 The Iron Maiden turned to him, an amused smirk coming to her lips as Adam suddenly felt a deep-seated satisfaction. Strength bubbled up from within her or him like a geyser pressured by pride, and with a wave of her arm plates of metal from beneath her tan-red sleeves and knocked into Bruce and Matt. They flew across the floor in a slide as the magic fizzled away from their hands.

 “Wait… is that Kovic?” The blonde laughed as she lifted the Necronomicon off the ground, “Jesus… they told me you were scrappy, but I didn’t think a fucker like you could survive a one-on-one –“

A flash like neon green electricity zapped her and knocked her into the wall as the book dropped like a brick to the floor. The man with the sunglasses stood defensively as a patch on his shoulder made to look like a mushroom cloud started to glow vibrantly as Lawrence lifted his own gloved hand and placed it on the planks below.

 “No fighting,” he grit his teeth,” In. My. Shop.”

 Another flash of magic power. A pin with three arrows crossed over now greeted his lapel, and three lights sparkled around his forehead. The sunglass man snapped is finger again, but this force didn’t seem to move Lawrence as he lifted his hand other than to cause his jacket to billow behind him like a superhero’s cape.

 The three arrows zipped through the air and knocked into the man’s chest. His back smashed into the wall, breaking a couple old planks in the process as he slumped next to the other Insider, leaving the book in the open as it started to leak dark smoke.

 It would’ve been The Iron Maiden’s hand that found that book next, but in a flash of smoke James was standing suddenly in front of her. His hand found purchase on the binding quickly as the woman’s eyes flashed angry grey when James turned to her with a shit-eating grin.

 “Oh, sorry, were you looking for this?”

 Then there was a flash of silver.

 “Yes,” she snarled.

 James glanced downward, a flash of pain rushing through him all of a sudden as his eyes came to see the rebar spear pushing out of his chest. His blue eyes shrunk as the book slumped from his hands.

 And Adam was all levels of angry again.

 Bruce and Matt were on their feet again – smoke billowed from beneath their sleeves as the pressed their hands forward, and a dark projectile went flying from an image of a skull that appeared over their hands, but with a wave of her hand the Iron Maiden tugged the spear back from James as he slumped to the floor in a gasp, and the pole spun fast to block them as she picked up the book, and bolted out the door.

 With a sight for what had happened finally, Elyse leapt to James’ side. She screamed loudly as Dan glanced down with a pale face as her eyes started to glow and she started to heal.

 Lawrence, on the other hand, placed a hand on Adam’s shoulder, and something else into his hand.

 Adam glanced back, the pair sharing a nod, and when he looked down, a gold film image of a camp fire was staring back at him.

 Then he ran out the door.

 The magic store outside was a realm of chaos as shop owners and magic sales rolled in and out of each other like a knit scarf, but Adam only had eyes for the red trench coat and hair that was walking away. He growled as he rushed forward and his emotions washed over him like a primal roar. But he knew already – there was one way he could get a reaction.

 “Really? You going to run now, Diana?”

 There were many taboos in the Insider ranks. One of which was that, once a member was high enough, you would refer to them by their pseudonym and nothing else.

 People all had reasons to complain about their boss, however, and it was only a matter of time before someone dug up some information on their fearsome Iron Maiden. As Adam now knew as well, there was no limit to what she would do to defend her pride.

 Sure enough, silver eyes spun around, and vicious, animalistic anger filled her eyes as she walked forward. The Necronomicon beneath her arm began to fume with black smoke as she lifted her hand and the rebar spear started to float around her. And not only that, but metal bits and bobs started to rise from the shop around them. People started to run in fear and terror (though some people seemed to watch amused) as metal started to fly up and around her, molding and shaping itself until what equated to hundreds of knives started to spin around her head.

 The dark smoke of the book started to emanate the air, and her eyes began to darken as an additional, darker power seemed to rush through her body and into the air around her as she lifted a hand towards Adam some thirty feet down the road.

 “Rats like you should use respect when you address me,” she snarled.

 Adam quickly had two thoughts: One, how exactly was this going to help get the book back?

Two, when did she get so powerful?

 Then it came. A sleet of metal bolted forward like a hurricane of blades as Adam pressed the new pin to his jacket and held out his hands.

 A spark, then flame. Orange tongues of fire burst from his hands as the swirled and spiraled. A straight shot down the middle could take her out-

Then he thought of the windows behind him. The building that was about to be shredded with likely everyone in it.

  _Fuck._ He thought.

 With another movement, the flames started to spiral and swirl around in front of him. A shard of metal burst into dust as it touched the fire, and he started to fashion it into a sort of flaming shield – fire bursting from the spiral that formed, and as Adam caught more in his grasp, he wasn’t sure if the shield was wide enough.

 A medal smashed the glass behind him, his eyes closed as he pulled at the power he had. The new jacket seemed to fizzle and spark as he focused as best he could.

 The fire grew brighter. Red and yellow flames exploding from the center and Adam felt the heat at the tip of his palms – not enough to burn, but like a warm fireplace he could feel the heat touch his cheek. He wrenched his eyes shut in concentration.

 Still… it didn’t look like it would be enough…

Two hands grasped his wrist and suddenly the heat intensified. The flames burst outwards and even with his eyes shut he could see the flame’s light blooming in intensity. At last he opened his eyes. The fire was shimmering almost gold as metal exploded into ash on contact every few seconds.

 To his right, a figure he’d never seen before grasped his wrist. Their eyes shone white gold, their skin shimmering with the same golden light, and Adam noticed immediately that he didn’t seem to be wearing a jacket or pin of any kind, yet there was power surging from him through his hands. To his left, there was Lawrence. The same varsity jacket on his back with a dark patch on the shoulder. Stitching wrote “100%” onto a black mark on his side, and the numbers glowed and sparkled silver as the fire reflected of his glasses. In that moment he was otherworldly.

 The spiral had formed into a great wall, spreading down the street and blocking the entirety of the shop as metal burst into ash against the wall. A few moments past as they heard the sizzling of steel against the magic flame. An acrid, sulfurous smell filled the air.

 And after a while the sounds died down. The smell faded away, and with sweat drenching his brow and his body shaking from the intensity, Adam finally dropped his hands.

 The fire faded quickly. Golden flames vanished into smoke that rose into the sky, and the only trace of it was the char marks on the pavement and the ash-scars on the street.

 Adam fell to his knees in a huff. His chest heaving, his body buckling over in exhaustion as the fiery pin ceased in its glow. Lawrence slumped next to him, and that left the last man standing for a moment. He blinked, and eyes were back to normal. The glow of his skin faded away. Adam noticed for a moment a black mark through his shirt, though it seemed to fade away as the man’s glow faded too.

 Adam looked up the street. A number of shopkeepers poked their heads up the street, and back down to where the fire once stood before returning to their devices. Some seemed frustrated at the result of their disheveled stores, a couple more appeared almost to share a look of amusement.

 But the Iron Maiden was gone. The Necronomicon with her, and Lawrence found himself with a furrowed brow as his brain already started preparing for the worst-case scenario.

“Who the hell are you?” Adam asked, his eyes on the figure that was standing above them.

 The man breathed heavily with a puff of air, and then looked down to Adam with a smile.

 “Yeah, I guess you were unconscious the last time we met. Sorry about that. I’ll just say for now that I’m here to help.”

 Adam blinked, confused for a moment, but the fact they were even standing here was at least partially thanks to this luminous figure.

 There would be time to figure this out, he thought, and while his eyes stayed trained on this unusual man, he backed slowly into the store to tend to the damage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I had a schedule in mind for this at some point but, naturally, I fell off that a while ago.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading!


	4. Angel Friend

“Aww man, that was my favourite shirt,” James grumbled, even with the lazy smile on his face as Elyse finished wrapping a bandage around his chest.

 Her magic had done most of the work as she thought aloud that it would be best to pick up some new spells soon. The two pins adorning the jacket gifted her were the pin she used to heal people, and the golden bird granted to her by the mysterious Eli, who was currently standing over one of the beds Adam sat upon back in their abandoned apartment base.

 Bruce had decided that leaving people around Lawrence’s old shop was likely a bad idea now that the Insiders knew Adam was alive and that their artisan wasn’t quite as neutral as they expected him to be. With the Iron Maiden taking the book and the other two having vanished in the commotion; it wasn’t a difficult decision. So, a reluctant Lawrence grabbed what he could of his operation and moved it into the basement around the rest of the stuff they had prepared. Both he and Matt were in the process of talking to Lawrence and getting some new pins made as the talented craftsman got to work on a couple extra accessories.

 Elyse sighed in relief as she finished tying him up, “Maybe next time you won’t drop in like that without a plan.”

“I did have a plan!”

“Oh, sorry, that plan was jumping right in front of the person with the sharp metal stick and then _what?_ ”

 James’ words shriveled on his tongue. Instead, he bit down on his lip and looked up at Elyse with apologetic puppy-dog eyes. Elyse rolled her eyes and leaned in closer so their foreheads were touching.

 “I’m an idiot. I’m sorry,” James whispered.

 Elyse pressed a short kiss to his lips, “You may be an idiot, but at least you’re cute.”

 Adam fastened one more pin to his new jacket, and with a breath, he felt as things returned to the way they had been. It wasn’t quite the same as the one before, but Lawrence’s expert tailoring brought it to a point where it felt like a good fit. The newer dark denim had a couple patches of leather over the shoulders, and the seam at the sleeves were sewn to hold the remaining straps he had of the previous jacket, but the others could see that he looked a lot more comfortable. Armed again, he looked ready to step into action instead of cowering nervously around danger.

 And for now, his eyes were on Eli, the mysterious man who seemed to have more than just one hand in getting everyone involved. The man’s glamor was dropped once more to show a demonstration of a man that was maybe a little more than human dressed in a white t-shirt.

 “So, you saved me from a dumpster,” he stated.

Eli smiled, “Yup.”

“Then, you led Elyse to come find me,”

“Right.”

“…For what reason, exactly?”

 The man tapped fingers against the wall behind him as his thoughts debated something behind his open face.

 “Well, that reason would be that book they just ran off with,” he said.

Adam squinted at the man aggressively and with a heavy sigh, he took a seat next to him in a flutter.

 “Alright, so… Well, there’s this thing,” he started shyly, “I was sent on some divine mission to gain my birthright or something – most of it involving preventing that dark book from causing a calamity.”

 “So, you were sent on some mission that involved getting us involved in this bullshit?” Adam sputtered, standing up at once as if to confront the man, but even as he clutched his hand in a fist the man was standing next to him again and putting a hand on his shoulder.

 “Well, that’s part of the problem,” the man stated, “I’m not allowed to directly interfere with the fate one deity has defined for you, so I can only help out.”

 The room went silent. Adam turned to the man again, not noticing that they were sitting back on the bed as he showed off while Adam sat to process the information.

 “So… this ‘birthright’ doesn’t let you interfere with fate… what are you, exactly?”

 “Half-Angel,” he replied casually.

 Adam nodded, “Yeah, I think I have a cousin somewhere who’s half-angel.”

“We’ve become more than rare the past few years,” he shrugged, “though for some reason someone wants me to ‘get involved’ with my celestial heritage. So…”

 He presented himself, hands out, “the least I can do is provide a little assistance.”

Meanwhile, Matt, Bruce, and Lawrence gathered around a small laptop screen as Lawrence fiddled with some bits of metal and started fashioning another pin to add to his ever-growing stack.

 “They won’t be the best spells,” he grumbled, “but seeing what we’re up against we’ll need a ton of tools at our disposal.”

Matt spoke cautiously: “I appreciate the work ethic.”

“Well, not like I have much else to do with my shop basically having a giant fucking glowing target on it,” he replied.

“Both of you, shut up,” Bruce swatted at Matt’s ear as he pressed closer to the computer, “I’m trying to see this seriously fucked-up bullshit we’re probably gonna have to deal with later.”

The whole crew converged in the main space of the underground headquarters a few moments later as Bruce pushed a bunch of empty take-out boxes off the table and placed the computer directly where they all could see.

 The screen was in the process of displaying a current news feed, and already eyes opened wide when they saw what was going on.

  _“This strange weather phenomenon is in the process of being analyzed by our experts, but truly it isn’t like anything we’ve ever seen.”_

The image displayed what was clearly the other side of town. Adam could pick up from the area around that it was centralizing on the main warehouse that was the property of the Insiders, but surrounding it like a putrid bubble were these billowing, purple clouds. The space seemed to pulse and change, but the dome was impossible to see through even from this distance.

 “That… does not look good,” Adam muttered as he pulled a chair around.

 Bruce was quick to agree, “I’m guessing that is probably where that book of ours went.”

“That would be its power, yes,” Dan nodded, “With that barrier up, however, there’s little we can do to get inside.”

 “It can’t be _that_ bad, right?” James asked carefully as he adjusted his position closer to Elyse and toyed with the zipper on his jacket.

“I don’t need to get any closer to tell you that no one’s stepping through that wall of cloud without dying or losing their goddamn mind – whichever the Old Gods prefer,” Lawrence sighed, rubbing at his temples, “and it’s only gonna get larger if we can’t find a way to deal with it.”

Adam sighed, “An easy grab for power.”

 The report came to an end for the moment, though the link for a 24-hour camera was tempting, and Matt closed the laptop and pushed it out of the way as the group turned to each other. The formed a kind of circle next to their old working table, and Eli hung out near the back of the group as though he was trying to avoid getting involved.

 “Alright, we need a game plan because apparently getting revenge isn’t the only reason we’re involved anymore,” Bruce announced to the group.

 Elyse cracked her knuckles, “We just have to break through the barrier, right? That can’t be _that difficult.”_

 Dan coughed carefully, “You’d be surprised,” he said, toying with the button on the end of his jacket.

 It was even to see that just being away from the book for a few hours was enough to help bring some color back to his cheeks.

 “What you need is something that may work as an equal resource,” Eli spoke up, and everyone swung around to greet the half-angel with a serious stare.

 “An equal resource?” James asked.

“If you’re suggesting we get a magic power equal to that Necronomicon, good luck,” Lawrence stated, dropping another pin on the table as he pulled away his glasses and rubbed at them with the corner of his shirt.

 Their blank stares were enough of a question for Lawrence to continue.

 “That book is _really_ old magic. Really old and really fucking powerful,” he explained, “To get power that parallels that? It’s going to take a lot.”

“I don’t really see another option,” Adam stepped in, “If we don’t do something then they’re using whatever they can get out of that book to change this city. And it’s not going to be for the better.”

With his free hand, Lawrence pressed his fingers to his temples and turned back to the pile of pins on the table. He replaced his glasses as he picked up a small tool and then turned back towards the doorway.

 He stood up.

 “I may have a way to get us a little bit stronger, at least,” he sighed, “but we’re going to need a little more than that.”

 There was a bang on the door. Heads swiveled to the entrance where their secret entrance would stand and Bruce stood up instinctually with a hand that burst into violet flames. Lawrence placed his hand on Bruce’s wrist and pushed it away, then he got up to walk towards the door himself.

 “There’s some of the help, at least.”

And when he opened the door, five men all tumbled into the room almost on top of each other like they were all leaning against the door. Bruce approached warily as the group scrambled to find their feet, but Lawrence was already at their side with a wide smile.

  “Glad you guys could make it.”

“Oh, it wasn’t that bad,” the first man sighed, scratching at a scraggly beard before adjusting the blue bandana on his head that went askew in the collapse, “though we probably looked like the biggest idiots knocking on a wall.”

 Lawrence spun around the rest of the group with the glow of an actor as he presented the new group.

 “Gentlemen, reinforcements have arrived.”

Introductions were made rather quickly as the group approached one by one. Apparently, Lawrence knew them because he often requested specific items or knowledge from the group in his pursuit of stronger magic, and they’d formed a fast relationship over time.

 Adam (or Bones as he preferred) was quick to let everyone settle in, and in a moment many boxes were piled in by the rest of the group as they started setting things up.

 “You’ve got a lot of denim in this one,” Omar mentioned as he dropped a briefcase next to Lawrence. The tattoos on his arms started to shift and twist as he pulled away though he didn’t bat an eyelash as the art swam across his skin.

 The group quickly started to form in unity as their ‘abandoned’ base started to fill with more allies. When Bruce raised the point that it was going to be a little louder than normal, James quickly used the excuse to spill out of the basement, tugging Elyse and Adam along with him.

 With a big stretch and a shrug of the shoulders; James wandered down the hallways of the building with a pin stuck to the side of his jacket that boldly proclaimed “fuck off” to anyone that got close enough to read it. Every few steps he’d place a hand against the wall, there would be a flash of gold energy, and then they’d keep moving.

 “What exactly is he doing?” Adam whispered over Elyse’s shoulder as they followed close behind.

 Elyse replied with a shrug and Adam snorted at the response.

 “Oh, that’s real helpful Elyse.”

 “Why’re you asking me about this?” she replied with a grin wide on her face, “You two are the ones who actually play around with this magic.”

“Yeah Adam, ever seen someone cast a warding spell before?” James shouted down the hallway as he tried to suppress a chuckle.

 “Guess I never so one being cast before, really,” he said as the moved up to the next floor, “Usually I’m the one breaking them.”

 A hand grasped at his own as Elyse pushed forward. Adam let himself get tugged along down the hallway as they tried to catch up and wards found their place on more walls as they moved forward.

 “It’s just enough to keep attention off of us,” James yawned at last as the pulled through the last door onto the roof of the building.

 Adam was hit by the fresh air like a fish hits water. He filled his chest with a deep breath and clambered over to the edge of the building as he watched the clouds above were cascaded in a flow of oranges as it started to set. For a moment it was almost easy to forgot how overcast it was, or how serious the situation.

 Until one of them pointed out the strange dark blot on the horizon. A dark dome of swirling black fog stood out over the city line. Adam’s brow furrowed as he threw his legs over the side of the building with a heavy sigh and took a seat carefully to let his legs dangle over the edge.

 The other two found their way to his sides a moment later. James flung himself to the edge and threw one arm over Adam’s shoulder, and Elyse took a seat on the other side as she too looked as though she was almost set to jump right off before landing at his side.

“Easy,” Adam snickered, “Don’t want you going splat too early.”

Elyse replied with a theatrical laugh, “It’s gonna take more than a many-story fall to knock me down.”

“Yeah, and you’ll never move your legs again either,” said James with his goofy smile.

 A familiar head came to Adam’s cheek as he listened to the couple bicker with him stuck right in the middle. It was as good as a distraction could be, even when all his thoughts were on that dark bubble and the mistakes being made by his former gang.

“Well – this is definitely not how I thought I was going to spend my week,” Adam sighed, “It was supposed to be just some easy deliveries to people.”

“Instead, you almost died,” Elyse leaned into him.

 James nodded, “And then you met us.”

“And then I met you.”

“How’s that been for you?” Elyse asked.

 Adam shrugged, trying hard to hide the smile that was prepared to break on his lips, “Well, it’s better than lying dead and naked in a dumpster, that’s for sure.”

“Such high standards to overcome,” James chuckled.

“Well, personally I’d liked to have met on better terms,” Elyse said, leaning closer with tired eyes, “Patching up someone is probably not the best way to meet someone new.”

 Adam furrowed his brow as some thought came to him, “You… didn’t see me naked the first time, did you?”

“Unfortunately, no,” James sighed, ignoring Elyse’s bright chuckle and Adam’s skin glowing crimson, “You were wearing clothes that came from somewhere.”

 “Probably better for you to take them off yourself next time,” Adam muttered under his breath.

An emotion hung on the air for a moment – he felt Elyse snort at one side and James, for one brief moment, seemed flabbergasted. Adam was ready to step up and leave the situation in its hung embarrassment forever when Elyse leapt to her feet to follow, slapping him on the posterior as she passed while James gave him the most obvious wink with his vibrant blue eyes.

 “I think we’ve warded most of the building,” he said with a dramatic stretch, “which means that people will probably start looking for us in a bit. So, let’s head back.”

  The walk back down was a lot quieter than the walk up as Adam’s cheeks burned red, and Elyse shared sideways glances with James as he adjusted his own denim jacket once again before the crew found their way back into the basement.

 They got back just in time to see Eli vanish in a flash of gold. That same thunderous wing-flap sound reverberated through the place and even sent some papers scattering across a table and brought notice to the stacks of pizzas that were already waiting for them.

 “Where’s angel boy off to?” Adam asked as Jacob bounced into the seat across the table and Jon reached over to grab a slice of the pizza.

 Bruce smiled carefully as he sat down at the end of the table, “Potentially he’s finding our next lead.”

“A power strong enough to break us through that barrier?” Adam raised an eyebrow.

“Hopefully,” Bruce sighed, “We have a supernatural dude on our side, least we can do is use him to get some other contacts.”

 “Especially because walking down Olympus Row is definitely a terrible idea.” Matt mumbled.

 James, with a huff, took a seat next to Adam as he wiped cold sweat from his brow, “And this is really the only power that will get us what we need?”

“Well, there’s many possibilities – which is why we’ll fan out and figure things out over the next few days,” Bruce announced, “Just enough time for Lawrence to get the new jackets done and for us to find some better solutions to our problems.”

 And the night went on like that. Some more plans muttered over the table, pizza shoved in the faces of many exhausted mages, and Elyse watching the smile grow on Adam’s face at each of James’ jokes, Adam blushing every time he caught Elyse looking over at them, and most of them trying not to think about the cloud of darkness at the edge of a city that grew more and more intimidating as time went by.

-LINEBREAK-

 Midnight. Wings fluttered over a cloudy city as rain threatened to fall again for the first time in ages. Combat boots touched on pavement as a smog-like scent emanated past the pulsing violet border that crawled slowly outwards. Regardless of how hard he squinted, there was no way his eyes could look past the shadowy border.

 “No chance of stopping the worst case scenario, huh?”

 His head turned quickly. Another figure stepped as green sparks popped from his hands and up his arms as his bright yellow hoodie disappeared to reveal a head of heavy curls and two long, curly horns.

 “We’re not in the worst case yet,” Eli replied, though his eyes stared back at the border.

Carefully, he pushed a glowing hand towards the dark barrier but pulled away with a frown as it didn’t budge. The horned figure beside him unstrapped a large keg barrel from his back that wasn’t there before, or at least in a way he could see, as he popped a cork off and chugged.

“They aren’t happy about this,” they said, “Hells, a lot of them aren’t happy about this.”

 Eli nodded, “Then perhaps they’d be willing to talk for a bit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again, sorry for the late update! I have some more stuff laid out so hopefully there will be more coming soon.
> 
> Did you know that Dnd Campaigns are fun but also take a lot of effort to write and that school stuff really drains the creative brain?
> 
> Thanks again everyone!


	5. Confrontation

Bruce tried to hide a heavy sigh as he watched the ambulance roar away in the early morning. The loud sirens like tiny spears to his brain in the early morning as he watched carefully, tucked away in the cheap coffee shop across the street.

 His eyes glared at the shadowy dome as people all around tested fate and approached it carefully. Some took pictures, or tested fate for some level of entertainment, but his eyes were on the street itself. Dark tendrils spreading across the pavement like spilled paint, and already one car left parked just outside the dome was starting to sink into the shadow as though it was made of tar.

 He saw enough of what happened to figure some things out. The figure pulled away from the dome was found screaming incessantly, followed by a level of laughter, followed by more screaming, which meant that this was something madness inducing.

Helpful? Probably not. But it was always important to know your enemy.

 Even from his place in the window, however; he found that he was not the only one watching the unusual black void. Dark jackets and bright hair dotted the space around the wall of it – with bright buttons and pins visible even from many feet away. Some of them were on phones or drawing various marks in the air with their hands, but it was clear that they were all doing the same thing.

 The gangs of the city saw the dark dome, were rather unhappy about it, and even more unhappy about the fact there was little they could do about it.

 “Quite a site, isn’t it?”

 Bruce’s head swung around, and a familiar pair of combat boots trudged up next to his table in the small coffee shop.

 “And your divine magic can’t do anything about it?” Bruce asked as he pushed out the chair with the base of his foot.

 The half-angel was quick to take his seat across from him. The usual glamor to his appearance was faded and for all purposes he appeared no different than any other average guy on the street.

 “No, unfortunately,” Eli replied, “I’ve got a lot of juice, don’t get me wrong, but not enough to cut through a dark force like that.”

 “And it’s all coming from the book?”

 “That would be the source of it, yeah.”

Bruce rubbed at his tired eyes as the puzzle remain unsolved in front of him. Every potential solution yielded ten more problems that were harder to squash than an elephant.

 He glanced up at the stranger. The man stared back at him with glowing golden eyes that did little to hide an apparent exhaustion.

Could beings like him even get tired?

 “What’s the play, then? We need that book out of the way for a ton of reasons. Plus, it’d be getting rid of the Insiders in fell swoop.” Bruce thought aloud.

 “Well, I may have something for us there.”

 He placed a pin on the table. Bruce’s eyes caught the silver lining of the small pin quickly, tracing the design of a rod wrapped with ribbons and topped with holly.

 Bruce’s eyes narrowed, “What’s this?”

“An invitation,” Eli explained, “A friend of mine has let me know that a certain deity that kicks around town would be willing to help out. Problem is, they’re very particular about who they want to meet.”

 Bruce chuckled softly, “Are you even allowed to work with pagan deities?”

“Do you want help or not?” Eli huffed.

 Bruce picked up the pin between two fingers, and immediately he felt a surge of power through his body. A strange level of intoxication seemed to overwhelm him in one wave before it settled and calmed.

 “You alright there?” Eli grabbed his wrist as Bruce’s palm closed around the pin.

 “Yeah, I’m fine,” he shook his head, “Who does this friend of yours want to meet?”

“Specifically? Adam.”

“Really?”

Eli nodded, “I was surprised too.”

“Well, it’s better than the fat load of shit we have to work on at this point.”

Suddenly, his phone rung. Bruce rapidly pulled his phone from his jacket as he looked back up to Eli, only to see that the chair was empty with no evidence he’d been there in the first place. With a scowl, he pressed the ‘Answer’ button and took the call.

 “Go for Greene,”

 “ _Hey, we’ve got a problem.”_

Bruce stood up, pushed through the glass door of the coffee shop, and was walking down the street at a brisk pace in seconds. He walked instinctually to the parking meter by a series of motorcycles, stopping himself at the last minute as his arm brushed passed the empty spot on his jacket where the Death Riders logo used to sit. With a sigh, he turned down the street with a brisk walk.

 “What’s the problem, Jon?” He asked quick.

 _“I’m sending you a location right now,”_ he said, “ _Some sort of artifact just started exploding with dark energy and we’re thinking we should get our hands on it before someone else makes a move.”_

“Understood. Send me the location, and get everyone else moving in that direction as soon as possible.”

 His phone buzzed again a moment after hanging up with an address in bold display, and Bruce was taking off down the street, knocking a couple people out of the way as the strain on his muscles made him miss his last gig even more.

 Meanwhile, James, Adam, and Elyse were taking off towards the place from a different direction. Elyse tried to keep her eyes ahead, but they kept flashing towards the acrid smoke that flew upwards in a pillar a couple blocks ahead. The smoke spun like a tiny cyclone of black clouds as she pressed another pin into her jacket – a golden arrow being held in the mouth of a gold retriever – as the closed in on their destination.

 It was an old factory building. The “CONDEMNED” sign on the door was barely visible behind the graffitied shapes and letters that covered the side of the old brick wall, but there was no denying the massive tower of smoke that phased through the roof of the building.

 As they got closer, Elyse could pick out flecks of red light flashing amongst the smoke tower, and the chain link fence with a hole cut through it in plain day light.

 “Good to see these idiots still don’t know how to hide their tracks,” Adam groaned, “Amateurs.”

 James smiled as he ducked under the hole, “Were you a good runner, Adam?”

“Well, seeing as I was never arrested, always got them their cut, and didn’t make stupid mistakes like leaving breadcrumbs like this; I was pretty good,” Adam said with a bored stare as he followed behind James.

 Elyse came behind last, once more tugging on the jacket that was once James’ as she ducked through the hole and turned around just in time to see Bruce running up.

 Matt had joined him on the way back. The quiet man had a way to show up right where he needed to as they both ducked towards the fence and moved towards the building. Matt’s hand traced a mountain-shaped symbol on the wall that began glowing the moment he moved away.

 “Wait, is this all of us?” Bruce asked suddenly, and the crew turned around with a finger to their lips and aggressive “shush”.

 Quieter, he tried again, “Then where is everyone else?”

“Lawrence is working on something,” James whispered back, “said he needed all the help he can get, and the other guys aren’t really the biggest fighters.”

Bruce, hiding the churning feeling that started to build in his stomach, responded with a nod before Adam stopped right outside the door, and re-adjusted some of the pins on the new jacket that hung from his shoulders. It still didn’t fit quite right, Bruce noticed. A little too baggy around the shoulders, sleeves a little too long… a bit of a rushed job for sure, and yet-

 Adam knocked the door down. Orange sparks emanated from one of his palms as he led the charge into the building.

 It was a large, abandoned factory long forgotten by developing technology. Rusty machines with long, immobile conveyor belts created three rows on their current floor, and they quickly pressed themselves behind large, tarped crates that blocked off a damaged catwalk with stairs no longer in use, and some blocked off doors and glass that led likely to some rooms in the back.

 At the far end of the factory, beyond the large dead machines, the dark vortex met its origin point as it continued spinning aggressively around a glowing red artifact at its center.

 Right around it stood five figures wearing plain masks and a familiar logo on their jackets. Adam cringed at the site of it still, even as he felt fire starting to form in his hand.

 James placed his arm on Adam’s shoulder, and Adam twisted his head to see James staring back at him. His eyes spoke the need of caution, and Adam let the fire die before it could start as they looked back towards the crowd around the dark spiral of doom.

 “Damnit Roscoe, this is a _dark_ artifact. Your whole fucking reason for being here is that you’re supposed to know how to run these things,” one man shouted at one of the figures.

 Said man, Roscoe, leaned down across from the shadow and held out his hands. A mountain pin on Matt’s jacket lit up as it sensed hidden magics at work. The dark spiral of energy seemed to flicker only for a moment as it sparked with glowing red energy now and again.

 “It’s… definitely some old ass magic. I think the right kind of spell could get it to chill out so we could carry it out of here,” Roscoe mumbled, “but knowing you assholes there’s probably not a radiant spell among us to make this work.”

 Matt and Elyse shared a glance. She mouthed the word ‘radiant’ at him quickly and got a nod in response as her hand reached for her new pin and she closed her eyes. Just as they were about to leap to something, a metal pole rattled across the concrete as James moved his leg ever so slightly.

 Five heads twisted towards them, and Roscoe got off his knees. Hands reached for fire arms at their sides or pins on their jackets as the five were quick to move into action.

 “Who’s here!” The first man shouted as he fired a warning shot wild into the air. The sound echoed through the empty space with a heavy crash and Adam winced as he felt his heartbeat accelerating again.

“Fuck,” James cursed, but with a snap of his fingers, his form shimmered with a dull white light before he vanished from existence and appeared behind the black spiral tornado. With a flick of his wrist, a white sphere spun out of his hand as he hurled it at Roscoe.

 Then, the place swirled into chaos. The white energy exploded in Roscoe’s chest and sent him scuttling across the ground as Matt and Bruce jumped up in unison. With a flash, two marks on their jackets went ablaze with a violet fire as they held out their hands and that same purple energy formed a blade in their outstretched hands. They ran forward at two of the men who quickly started taking shots. With a flick of their wrists they knocked two bullets out of the way before Bruce lobbed his ethereal weapon towards the man in front of him, and with a flash the man crashed into the wall.

  Two more figures lifted hands to the sky and ice crystals started to burst from the ceiling. The icicles rained down from above and smashed through tarps and boxes as the group scattered. Elyse pressed a hand down on a new pin on her jacket, and with a nod to James an ethereal glow fluttered around her jacket and then moved away in a simple glow. It created a new shape that burst forward in a sprint.

 An astral dog leapt at one of the men with the ice crystals, and with a heavy thud the dog’s image knocked the man over and pinned him beneath transparent claws. A similar shape came from James’ hand and a taller, buffer-looking dog leapt at another goon’s wrist and pulled him down with sharp teeth.

  Bruce deflected a series of dark thorns. Adam ducked beneath the spikes with a hand lit on fire as he rolled away from a dark hand that emerged from the ground to grab him. He lobbed the fire over Bruce’s head and with a resounding crack it collided with the man’s chest and knocked him backwards just in time for Matt’s ethereal blade to send another figure flying down onto the conveyor belt.

 Elyse bolted for the black spiral. The chaos created the perfect opening as she went into a full baseball slide across the concrete floor just as she saw Roscoe crawling towards it. Her hands grabbed another new pin – a golden pinwheel-type shape as it flashed across her jacket in a bright, golden aura the spread across her body and reached her fingertips just as her hand caught the round shape from within the dark spiral. The dark cyclone disappeared in an instant, and Elyse was on her feet just as Roscoe tried to grab at her foot.

 She drove her boot into his hand for good measure and he yelped in pain just as James jumped over him, and started running.

 “We got it!” Elyse shouted to the crowd.

 Everyone’s attention turned to James and Elyse. They peeled out towards the exit fast as they could before everyone got up and continued the chase. Well, except for the two goons with the dogs that likely weren’t going anywhere.

 They burst from the warehouse. Elyse hurled the object over her shoulder and James caught it easily just in time for Matt to snap his fingers.

 The symbol he drew on the wall earlier flared brightly with orange fire as the three Insiders ran out the door after them. In a flash, the three were left prone on their backs. One clutched at his eyes screaming as the same peak mark on the wall started to appear burning into his forehead as the group took off down the street.

 “Do any of us have some kind of transportation!” James shouted as he tucked the object into a back pocket.

 A bullet fired off behind them as Bruce grit his teeth. His hand reached for his shoulder as he ran and a firm tear had found its way through his leather jacket, a stain of blood was wet on his fingers.

 His fingers clutched tight. He snapped his nail against a pin on his jacket and the skull-and-crossbones pin seemed to release its jaw as his eyes glowed with an astral purple smoke. Then, he turned around and pointed a finger at offender.

 A small bead of blue light flashed from the tip of his finger. A burst of blue fire exploded as the light collided with the Insider and his itchy trigger finger as a disembodied voice cackled through the street.

 “Asshole,” Bruce muttered, and the group turned the corner quickly.

 “Central park up ahead,” Matt shouted, “We get in and we lose them there.”

 Sure enough, despite the overcast day the park itself seemed to be crawling with people as the charged on inside. One of the few places in the city that was mostly untouched by the chaos around them, the group found themselves amongst the park crowded with various aerobics classes, social gatherings, and colorful joggers as the group in their heavy jackets quickly pulled them all beneath a bench and started to chat amongst themselves as though they were simply friends having a normal conversation.

 “You’d think with the weird dark bubble thing going on people’d be a bit more concerned about what was going on,” Elyse yawned as she adjusted the pair of round sunglasses she’d pulled from her jacket.

 They found a small park bench to sit around. Their appearance was maybe a little bit older than what was normal for a group of young adults to just be hanging around, but none of the civilians seemed to pay them any mind. Otherwise, there was no other sign of the group that they found.

 Elyse stretched out on the bench and wrapped an arm around James’ shoulder as Adam leaned against her legs. Matt’s back was pressed to the back rest of the bench while he scrambled over some notes on his phone and Bruce was taking up what space was left on a rest as the group let out a collective sigh of relief.

  James pulled out the artifact carefully, “So, what do you think this is for?”

 The object in question appeared to be a dark pendant. The spiraling energy still seemed to flicker at the edges of the black metal jewelry and its jagged edges. His hand still offered a faint glow from the angel wing patch on his back that offered some level of protection before he tucked it back in his pocket.

 “Whatever it is,” Matt muttered, “It’s better away from the guys with the other dark powerful object on their person.

 Bruce gave a brief nod, “We’ll pass it off to Lawrence later. He might know if it’s from some dark ritual or something.”

“Then destroy it, right?” Adam asked, looking to Bruce with a furrowed brow.

“Probably, yeah.”

 With a burst of recollection, Bruce’s posture snapped forward towards Adam, making him jump a little in response, “Oh yeah, that reminds me! I have something for you, Adam.”

 He pulled out the pin given to him earlier that day, and offered it to Adam carefully as their hands touched for a moment.

 “What’s this for?” He asked.

Bruce shrugged, “Not entirely sure, but it’s key for the next step of or plans,” he replied while his hand pulled back to his pocket.

 Adam flipped the pin over in the palm of his hand a few times as his eyes seemed to glimmer with some strange energy that glimmered across the surface of the pin. It was only James tugging on the hem of his shirt that got him back to his senses. Adam pushed the pin into the back pocket of his jeans before his attention turned back to the other man.

 Elyse caught sight of a familiar face as one of the figures ran past them in the park. She swung back to the rest of the group, and with Bruce’s nod they all stood up and split up in opposite directions. Elyse’s arms pulled around James’ as they giggled like a pair of foolish lovers as one of the Insiders ran right past them on their simple walk in the park.CHED FOR THE  catch sight of an Insider’s logo before it was lost in a large crowd of runners passing through. With the retrieval successful, the pair let out a sigh of relief as a car’s honk beckoned them back into the veil of the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just gonna throw this out now so people know I'm still alive and kicking! I'm writing a homebrew DnD campaign and that's taking a lot of tiem but I'm still working on this! I think im maybe about two thirds or halfway done with this. There's some character development stuff building up and other things.
> 
> Thank you for your patience, as always!


	6. Communion

“Holy shit Lawrence I think I’m in love with you.” Bruce’s eyes went wide as they fell unto the racks set up against one side of the walls.

 The under-the-apartment headquarters had their attention focused on the tired magician as he pushed forward one wheeled clothing rack with a series of hangars from them.

 “Since he seemed to be the reason for it, I thought the patch on the back would be ideal for us, plus with Adam being kind of the core of the whole thing, it kind of made sense.”

 Lawrence rambled on as he rubbed his hands at the heavy shadows under his eyes. The object in question was several jackets sitting on the rolling rack. Each one a matching dark leather in a variety of sizes, and the orange crest of Adam’s family was emblazoned on the back in vibrant orange fabric.

 Adam rubbed his fingers across the fresh leather, stopping to feel the patch itself on the back, and already he could sense a familiar magic pulsing through it that felt like the warmth of home.

 “What does it do?” he asked earnestly as Lawrence stepped to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder.

 “Well, it’s mostly for team unity,” Lawrence said. “The spell in the patch ties them together in moments of high stress. So, if one of us is in danger, the rest of the group will know exactly who needs help and where the distress is coming from.”

 Adam nodded. His careful eyes hung on the backs of the jackets like a patron admiring a painting even as Bruce and James rushed passed him and leaped at the chance to try them on.

 “The only thing missing is your own pins and patches,” Lawrence said as he clipped a small magnifying glass pin onto the front side of one of the jackets.

 “Any luck on finding information on that dark amulet of ours yet?” Elyse asked, her hand rolling down the inner side of the new sleeves as she felt the inner lining of the clean, new jacket.

 The amulet in question sat in Bones’ hands. Bright glowing eyes appeared on top of the bandana that covered his face and thick glowing gloves protected his hand from the dark artifact. Even from across the room Adam could feel the shadowy force pass a general malaise over them.

  That wasn’t the only force he was dealing with, however. The other magical energy was the pin gifted him by Bruce, which would supposedly be needed for the key meeting they had that night. He wasn’t completely sure of the details. The only thing he did know was that a powerful being wanted to meet with him and that this pin was pivotal to the conversation. The only problem was that the longer he held it, the more he felt like he just wanted to let go and let loose.

 “Adam?”

 “Huh?”

 He spun around. Elyse and James stood behind him, eyes needling into the back of his neck even as they stood wearing the new jackets.

 James patted him on the shoulder carefully, “You’ve been spacing out a lot. You good?”

“Yeah, fine,” Adam lied.

 Adam pushed through the pair, ignoring the glares of concern as he stalked past Bones and Jacob who both seemed to be analyzing the dark pendant. Dan was a seat away at the end, rubbing his wrists nervously with another pin attached to his collar.

“Wait!” Elyse chased after him, “You forgot something.”

 Adam spun around again, and in the process almost tripped over a wayward chair before Elyse caught him with a hand on his chest.

Over her free arm was the last jacket, and she offered it to him with a soft smile, “I think you’ll need this.”

 He stared, then his hand grabbed at the material. The tough leather still felt foreign under his fingers, but it wasn’t long until it was in his hands. As his hand passed up the sleeve, it caught a familiar fabric on a strip down the sleeve.

 The same strip of denim that came from his old jacket. Damn it, sentiment still held a strong hold over him, but the fact that they’d thought to even include it in their new black leather was endearing enough. He smiled softly to the crew for a moment before he glanced back at Elyse.

 “Thanks. I need to go get ready.”

 He pulled away from the main floor and back into one of the above apartments he’d marked as his own. The first room he’d arrived in was blocked off (mostly because they didn’t want to deal with the blood and other markers of Adam’s uncomfortable introduction) which meant he could take in one of the other dingy apartments left but forgotten in the grand scheme of the hollow city.

 His curated collection of pins, plus a few others, sat on a small side table next to the bed, and the previous jacket hung loosely from a closet’s doorknob as he pulled the new one over his shoulders. It fit well. Suddenly, a surge of power parsed through his body, and for a moment his eyes flashed orange before fading back to their usual brown. He couldn’t help but feel just a little bit satisfied with donning his armor once more to face off against the future.

 “Now _this_ is an Adam Kovic I was hoping to see.”

 Adam spun around, throwing his hand out on instinct even without a pin to offer some power – so it really looked like he was just telling the oncoming voice to talk to the hand. Eli stood in the doorway with a golden light flickering away from his shoulders before settling on him, leaving his hair looking ‘mortal’ once more. He offered a soft smile as he leaned against the door in a simple black jacket and white shirt.

 “Oh, angel-dick. Glad to see you made it finally,” Adam muttered as he tried to force his arm hair to stop standing on end.

Eli shrugged, keeping his feet planted. “Just getting some final details planned out. I see the jackets have taken good form.”

 Adam proceeded to put the pins on his jacket, fastening some of the more familiar ones into the places he’d usually find them. A familiar fireball, the family crest, two curled arrows going in opposite directions… among a few others. His fingers instinctually moved to press the thyrsus pin into the leather jacket, but paused at the last moment as a familiar madness tickled his mind.

 “I cannot emphasize how important it is you take this seriously,” Eli stated. “That dark barrier can likely only be broken with some level of divine intervention.”

“God, if I had to prepare for a party like this every night I’d just go to bed.” Adam deadpanned.

 Eli’s stoic visage didn’t change, “that means managing the revelry, too. The fact you were given that pin at all means that they’ve taken a liking to you.”

“Why does it have to be me, again?”

“Heavenly Father, if I only knew.”

 The half-angel flashed away in a beam of golden dust with a sound like a bell chiming through the air before Adam sat himself down and thought things over.

 It wasn’t long before the sun hit the end of its arc and began to fall beyond the horizon, beckoning for the shadows to dive and swim across the surface of the pavement. Adam prepped as best as he could for a club by pretending he was that young kid who thought being part of the biggest group in the city was the peak. He found flashy colours and glow stick bracelets entering his possession as he emerged from the shitty, cold shower. But now, he was wired. His outfit picked out with tight leather pants and shin-high boots, then, of course, the brand-new jacket ready to go.

 He didn’t really want to feel It, but the slightest satisfaction tickled the back of his neck when he walked down the stairs to be greeted with James’ slack-jaw.

 Everyone else was a little more toned-down. The idea was that Adam needed to be prepared for this meeting, and everyone else would watch from a distance. Close enough to be there if things went bad, far enough that no one would feel crowded or outnumbered.

 But this conversation was taking on monumental proportions in the minds of the group.

  Matt and Bruce laid out a floor plan of the _Bacchae_ (“Huh. Turns out Dionysus really does run a club down on Olympus Row,” Lawrence mused half-focused as he tugged at the last couple stitches for a new patch on his jacket) on the long table that had become their meeting point in the basement. The main dance floor and bar was drawn out as best as it could be, but even seeing the diagram caused Adam’s fingers to curl into fists.

 “Last chance for questions,” Bruce announced, “Once we’re in there, we can’t fuck up – to make sure everyone’s sure of where they’re supposed to be.”

 Eyes moved around the table as a confident silence sat in place. Adam and Bruce locked eyes for a moment, and the spark of adventure crackled behind Bruce’s pupils as Matt rubbed absently at the ever-present shadows under his eyes.

 “Let’s get going,” Adam announced.

\- X – X – X – X –

The night came as they prepared for an outing, and what would’ve involved pre-drinking and hyping yourself up for a night on the town, Adam instead found himself looking in the mirror one last time as James started to rub his shoulders tenderly.

 “We’re going to a club, Adam, “James reiterated for the third time that night, “so stop stressing out! If you’re gonna meet the God of Parties you need to be ready to let loose.”

  “That’s what I’m worried about. Take a look at this.”

 He held on the thyrsus pin to him, still hesitant to place it against his chest as it flickered under the cheap light above. James’s finger pressed against the front of the pin for a moment, and Adam had to yank his hand away as he watched James’ blue eyes grow foggy.

 “See?” Adam explained, “I don’t get what it is but it drives you wild.”

 James leaned back against the washroom wall, and let Adam’s eyes wandered back to the mirror as he finished adjusting his outfit. The new, fresh jacket hung from the doorknob as he adjusted his waistline. The goal for the night was to be ready for a good time, which Adam interpreted as a night of seduction.

 He may have been a runner in the Insiders, but there were occasions for some espionage he was required to fulfill or deals made in shady places that benefited from a bit of coercion in blending in.

 This led to moments like now, where he was tugging at the fishnet tights he had to dig out of his old apartment, adjusting them to the booty shorts that were just long enough as he applied the last line of his eyeliner.

 They were going “all in” , in Bruce’s words, and Adam was ready to see what that meant for those on the main floor. For James, this meant that his eyes were on Adam non-stop, and Adam swore he could see James almost drooling for him. So, if Adam was going to play it up a little further, then who was to judge?

 In time, their positions were set and they pulled away from their hidden base. The clock had passed midnight by the time they found their way to the edge of Olympus Row – an old street at the center of the city that was rife with magic power, and the myths of the old days could take some level of domain.

 “Wasn’t there a story of someone getting struck by lightning just for stepping onto the wrong brick?” Matt yawned as he stared down the alley.

 An old sign hung from a lamp post on the edge of it. The cracked wood painted with a mountain and the scrawled “Olympus” name still hung in the right place. Adam’s eyes flashed over it as he toyed with the snaps of his jacket. Elyse and James leaned on his shoulders, both in similar get-ups with a smattering of flashing bracelets and jewelry in places as Bruce led the way down the row. The _Bacchae_ bar’s neon sign was alight and flashing in lines of pink and bright gold as Bruce, Matt, and Lawrence all headed inside.

 They could hear the house music pumping from indoors. Adam felt it bring a tap to his foot, and the thyrsus pin started to beat like a heart in his one gloved hand.

 “You good, Adam?” Elyse asked carefully as she tilted to see him.

He gave a brief nod and pulled his arms around the pair. James wrapped a hand around the back of Adam’s head for a moment before he stepped away.

 “Well, if you’re sure,” James shrugged, “then it’s time to _party!!”_

And with that, James grabbed Elyse by the wrist and pulled her towards the doorway to the Bacchae. Adam, after taking a moment to catch his breath, followed them through the door.

 Immediately, his senses seemed to leap into overdrive. The place quickly filled with fog pumping from machines and vibrant lasers danced off the walls and floors of the black room. A flashing dance floor sat at a lowered platform at the center of the large place and the electronic music pushed everyone into movement. Even Adam couldn’t help but tap his foot as the group wandered in. With one last touch, Adam pressed a button on the small communication device in his ear and took a deep breath.

  _“Alright, you remember the instructions, Adam?”_ Bruce asked as Adam made eye contact with him at the bar.

 Bruce, in his jacket laced with glowsticks and the glowing framed glasses on his nose, sipped at an unnaturally bright drink as he pretended to be chatting to Matt as he sat next to him.

 “Right. Pin on, dance for a little bit, and they’ll handle the rest.”

 _“And make sure you put the pin on,”_ Matt muttered, _“If the myths are true, you do not want to be resisting the party when you’re down there or they’ll rip you apart.”_

 _“So really the same thing that would happen if you tried to make unwanted advances on someone at a bar,”_ Lawrence added, as he sat at one side of the room with James and Elyse as they were joined by a collection of more relaxed patrons in the same neon get-ups.

Though Adam would’ve sworn that at least some of them had wings or horns.

 With one last breath, Adam pushed into mission mode. The pin came out of his hand, still pumping like his heartbeat as he took one look around the room, took one step towards the dancefloor, and clipped the pin into the collar of his jacket.

 The spell’s effect was instantaneous. Adam was familiar with the effects of magic that altered or affected personality. This – was like the strongest stimulant he’d ever been on along with something else that seemed to pull him away from any restraints he had.

 It was like living on another plane of existence. He could tell that he was doing something, he could feel the way his body was moving, but his brain was away on cloud nine. He couldn’t help the insurmountable, maddening joy that pulled him into the dance of everyone else on the floor. The beautiful people surrounding him pulled them into their fray and started to pull their hands around him. He started to dance and felt himself being pulled around by people even if their faces became indiscernible as even the concept of time was lost to himself. All he found was the music, the fog, and that feeling of fulfillment in the realm of chaos.

 Then there was a hand on his shoulder, and Adam turned to see the most beautiful face he’d ever seen. Flowing hair in shimmering colors and eyes that glimmered and glowed like lightning in the sky. Tattoos seemed to move across their pale, glowing skin with images of growing vines and leaves that swirled around on his arms. The tattoos moved on his skin like the wind was actually pulling the images into motion.

 Then he felt their lips, and it could only be described as heavenly. The most satisfaction he’d had from any moment of revelry came over him. He was drunk on it. The energy, the ecstasy of the moment pulled him away into a place where time and space didn’t exist – only the celebration, and the party.

 It felt like both seconds and hours, but soon Adam felt everything come back to clarity. The music of the club came in muted from behind him as he realized suddenly that he was sat upon a large, plush sofa. Its soft white cushions were completely unstained as the other figure sat in a round, modern chair across from him. In between two of their fingers was the thyrsus pin as Dionysus stared Adam down with blunt admiration.

 “I’ve been looking forward to this conversation for a long time, Adam Kovic,” the deity grinned with their near-perfect teeth.

 Adam blinked and his head swung around the room. The raucous fog in his head thinned slowly over the next few minutes as his eyes matched Dionysus, sitting across from him. The room itself had an otherworldly feel to it. He could see some of the vines spiraling around some marble-looking pillars at the sides of the room as the gleaming, glowing figure looked him over.

 “You… are Dionysus, then,” Adam mumbled as his brain went over what he knew about Greek mythology, but all he could really admit was that this God was _gorgeous._

If this was his kid, it was no wonder everyone wanted to fuck Zeus. He must’ve been pretty fine.

“That would be me, and I must say that I appreciate the effort you go to while joining with the revelry.” The deity grinned as he handed a glass of red wine to Adam while taking a sip to his own.

The liquid touched his lips, and Adam didn’t even need to wait a minute to know that it was the best wine he’d ever tasted. Just one sip brought him a warm headiness he wasn’t expecting before he remembered the task at hand.

 “Well, doesn’t seem right not to join in the party,” Adam shrugged, “even if it has to be followed with… this.”

 Dionysus chuckled like church bells ringing, “Business doesn’t offend me if it’s for the right reasons. As it stands, this also seems like the only way to keep the party going.”

 “Yeah. We came here because we need your help.”

“And help you shall have. I can’t have those Insiders spreading their influence across the city.” they scoffed, “Already their dark domes and eldritch tomes are killing my buzz.”

  Adam perked up at that, even as he took another careful sip from his glass, “So, you can break the barrier then?”

 For the first time, Dionysus’ demeanor faltered, “Not… exactly.”

They cleared their throat, and with a snap of their fingers, the vines from the pillars spread outwards. Adam felt the walls and the furniture melt away as they ground twisted and strained until it was blades of grass, and the vines clambered up the walls with large bushels of grapes fall from them in places. Dionysus lifted their hand up as little spheres of light began to dance out of his hands on the natural setting.

 Then the lights started to take shapes.

 “So, the way the modern world works means I still have all the power that I had in my prime,” they explained as one light took a lithe, beautiful form of the deity, “but it can only have so much impact on the world in accordance with some… agreements.”

 The next light took on a different color as it shaped itself into a wall around the first figure, and the next light became a crowd of stick-figure shapes on the other side of the wall.

 “These agreements make it so I can only share fractions of my power in ways that directly alter the fate of something.”

 A beam emerged from the Dionysus lookalike and knocked towards the wall, only to come out much smaller on the other side to the people.

 “So, the thing’s like a domain limited to a nightclub,” Adam thought aloud.

Dionysus nodded, “So, to answer your question. I cannot help you directly, but for the sake of your friends and mine, I can do something else.”

Dionysus snapped their fingers, and the room turned back to its initial form. The thyrsus pin between his fingers started to shimmer in the glowing fluorescent lights from the ceiling as the one pin became two, and both changed shape with a golden glow.

 “You will need one last item to make this work – an ancient relic hidden beneath our current lore, and with that piece, you can crash through that dark barrier and deal with the threat on the other side.”

 “And it’s easy runnings from there, right?” Adam said in an attempt to lighten the mood, even as the weight of the situation was starting to dawn on him.

 Not even the sweetest tasting wine would be enough to distract him from thoughts of his old demons crawling back to destroy him once and for all.

 “It… physically pains me to say this,” Dionysus sighed through gritted teeth as they pushed their long hair behind their back, “but you need to take this seriously. The life of the party literally depends on it.”

 Adam looked up. Gently, he put his glass down and the vineyard leaves took the glass from his hand when he wasn’t even looking.

 “Can I ask you one more question?”

 It was at that note that a loud bang echoed through the space. The muted music from behind the door came to a halt as they could hear muffled screams.  Dionysus was on their feet at once, crossing the room as they pressed a kiss against Adam’s cheek and a pin against his chest.

 “Hold that thought, would you?”

 And before Adam could say anything, everything around him fell into a mind-numbing fog once more.

\-----------------

It was all fun and games before Dionysus came out to party, then James couldn’t help the tiny, jealous knot that wedged itself into his ribcage. Elyse, with a knowing smile, passed him some bright-coloured liquid in a tall glass at the bar as they watched (or tried to watch) the deity wrap their hands around Adam and start dancing with him.

 “It’s just once, and nothing serious,” Elyse said for the third time that night.

 She knew where the feeling was coming from. It wasn’t jealousy, exactly, but she knew that he was already growing a fond need to protect the man they found in a dumpster, and his shoulders only tensed further when Adam was pulled away from the room.

 _“Alright, I have visual on Adam entering a back room,”_ Matt’s voice spoke through the system.

“Can he even hear us?” James asked, distracting himself with the straw of his drink.

There was an expected tension in James’ shoulders for the next few minutes as they kept their eyes pointed at the door. The music felt like a faded dream to him as his fingers kept tapping against the table.

 “What exactly happened to the guy in the myth again?” James asked hesitantly, and Elyse only laughed.

 She stretched her hands over James’ shoulders, kneading at the tense knots appearing beneath his shoulder blades, “You’re worrying too much. This isAdam’s schtick, remember? Talking to shady guys?”

“Yeah, I guess…”

“Or would you have the former cleric-in-training talk to who could be summed up as a heathen god of debauchery?”

“I thought that’s just what I called you in the bedroom – “

“There we go,” She smiled, “Now we’ve got it.”

 A door slammed open, and all eyes spun to the door. Two security guards with horns and hooved feet stumbled down the steps in a trail of red blood as a conclave of dark, hooded figures descended the steps.

 Disks at the turntable stopped spinning, but the dancing didn’t stop as James and Elyse knocked a couch over and ducked behind it while one hooded figure lifted a hand, and a dark claw reached from the floor beneath his feet towards the crowd.

 James expected the worst. He watched as the woman kept dancing, waiting for that dark claw to grab a victim, but the group seemed to expertly dance out of the way as the DJ bolted behind a swinging door towards the kitchen.

 A pin featuring a smiling bullet on James’ jacked flickered silver for a moment as he raised his hand…

 …then Dionysus stepped through the doors.

  _“Let the dancers take them, just get them there,”_ A heavenly voice echoed through their heads as the vibrant Dionysus walked towards the group with a disarming smile.

 “Surely you’re not here to ruin the party, are you?” their voice rang through the club.

 Already, the man dropped his hand as Dionysus stepped forward, wrapping a hand around his face, and with a gentle move of his wrist, tossed him across the room towards the dancers.

  _“NOW!’_

Bruce leapt from the side of the room. With a swing of his hand, swirling energy emerged and formed a large glowing axe as he slammed the blade into the back of a second guy. James’ white wing flashed and he was suddenly on the other side of the group in time for a  silver burst to explode from his hand and knock more of them towards the dancers.

 The dancers of the club, well, their revelry kept them going… even as they ripped the people apart at their joints. The laughter of revelry took on a hellish tune as some pulled other men into the dance and tore them limb from limb in a shower of gore.

 Lawrence threw up over the table in front of him, the sight making even Elyse queasy as she suddenly remembered something about Dionysus’ Bacchae.

 It all made a little too much sense, but the group was done with before they could even start. One last man tried to stumble back and out of the club, but Dionysus’ hand found his cheek and pulled him back in.

 “Now, now,” Dionysus grinned, “We’re having so much fun, and you just want to leave?”

 The man was struggling at first, but soon his body started to calm. Dionysus began to dance with him as the music started up again and the dancing resumed. The bleeding guards on the ground got up, brushed off their chests, and with a flash were back in human-esque disguises as they returned to the door. The dancing woman kept dancing as the blood on viscera on the floor started to wash away in a flush of red that smelled like wine. Dionysus eyed the Elyse and James for one last moment, then retreated back to the room with the man in his hands and a dazzling wink.

 Adam came out a few moments later, and James couldn’t hide the elation on his face as he and Elyse darted towards him and wrapped him in a tight embrace.

  _“Alright – we’ve made the exchange,_ ” fizzled Matt’s voice, “ _Let’s get the hell out of here.”_

 Leaving was much less stressful than entering, but they still didn’t take their chances. There was a nod to the guards as they wandered out of club, a foggy Adam between them that didn’t seem to notice how they were carrying him with both his arms over their shoulders like he was the victim of some war.

 Only when they were a few streets over did James chance taking the pin off Adam’s chest, and as Adam’s eyes started to come back into focus, the rest of the group came together.

 James couldn’t blame the strong mint gum scent that came from Lawrence as he kept trying to wipe the imagery out of his mind.

 “God… this is why I don’t get in the front lines,” Lawrence groaned as Adam’s head swiveled around.

 “What… what happened?” Adam blinked, and Elyse tweaked his nipple for fun as he yelped and jumped in place, “What the hell?”

 “Sorry, just making sure you’re still with us,” Elyse chuckled, “You got real foggy for a minute there.”

 Adam shook his head, cheeks growing a shade of pink as he moved his arms away from James and Elyse and cracked his neck.

 “But, I have some tools now.”

 From his pocket, three pins emerged, each foiled in silver and beaming with a strange sense of power. One had a shape of an arrow with strange marks traced around within it.  The next one a shape like a lock covered in vines of ivy, and the third: a wine glass that seemed to flicker red light if you looked at it long enough.

 Bruce came up behind the group, and Lawrence and Matt moved into a formation as the group walked away from the club. Matt rubbed something at the red stain on his white shirt that Lawrence’s eyes were notably avoiding.

 “It’s a lead,” Bruce smiled, “Which means we're one step closer.”

 Adam explained the conversation in close detail as they walked back to the abandoned apartment building while the beats of the Bacchae faded into the distance.

 Eli watched from the tip of a building on Olympus Row, as his friend next to him chuckled with his massive keg in his hands and his hooves hanging over the roof.

 “Well, Angel Boy, yah owe me,” the satyr chuckled.

 Eli’s body shivered for a moment as his skin glittered gold for a flash.

 With a yawn, he turned to the figure and grinned, “Yeah, I guess I’ll add it to the list. I hope you’re not looking for booze from me.”

“Can you even drink the stuff?”

“Only wine, and even then, it has to come from a specific source.”

“On the plus side, you’re good on your word,” the satyr chuckled, “at least half the time.”

 As the night settled and the pair disappeared in a flash of light, a dark shadow stretched across the road, and back towards the growing dark sphere at the edge of town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, I stopped to update this again! Thanks as always for the patience!


	7. Sewer Spelunking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Certain artifacts need to be found, and Funhaus needs to find them if they have any hope of taking down the Insiders.

 They took to the sewers without hesitation the next evening. Adrenaline drove Bruce like a steam train down the tracks to their next steps as the taste of rage at the Insiders danced across his lips. He was quick to pierce his harsh-leather jacket with new pins and attach new patches in the few hours he could before falling asleep for most of the day, leaving most of the planning for everyone else.

 Adam had a death grip on the gifts from Dionysus before he was pinning them to the inside of his new team jacket. His shoulders quivered as Lawrence danced around him, adding some final touches, removing the last touches of make-up as Adam listened as carefully as he could to the muttering of James and Elyse in the next room.

 All things considered, they were ready to go far quicker than anticipated.

 Most of their support team stayed behind to keep an eye on the dark forces crawling across the city carefully. The plague of shadows from the Insiders’ dark barrier stretched in careful tendrils like roots or spider web as they pulled more and more territory into the deep. The news was already talking about the “strange weather phenomena beginning to spread” as Adam once again took a look at the new pins under his collar.

Ivy Lock. Notched Arrow. Red Wine. Words he’d repeated over and over again since their sting at the _Bacchae_ from a few nights before, and Dionysus’ words still rung through his head.

 “We’re still taking a look at that amulet you found, but it’s proving… evasive,” Dan explained while rubbing at his exhausted eyes.

“Just keep us up to date on everything you find,” Lawrence replied quickly as he popped the buttons in place on his own jacket, “It could be vital to taking those assholes down.”

“Whatever you say, boss,” and Dan left without another word.

Which led them to a pothole at the edge of town, further into the ruins of abandoned buildings and apartments, right next to what was once a gas station. Adam traced a finger through the dust on the window covered in old, faded stickers as Bruce and James heaved at the metal cover in the concrete road, and pulled it over to the side. James tapped at the old money ticker on one of the gas machines, leaping back when one of the numbers fell.

 “These things probably dried up ages ago,” Lawrence scoffed as he caught James’ shoulder, “If you’re worried about them blowing up, don’t be.”

 “Never hurts to be too safe,” Elyse stated as she tugged Adam back over to the pothole and grabbed the others along the way.

 Matt, Bruce, Lawrence, James, Adam, and Elyse glanced into the darkness below. A simple metal-rung ladder descended the side of the tunnel. Bruce’s nose scrunched at the sulfurous stench that emanated from the hole in the ground as he glanced around at everyone else.

“Well – if it’s where we’re going, then we should probably get going.” Bruce chuckled, glancing at the rest of the group.

Everyone in response stared back at him. As they reached a stalemate, Bruce held a final sigh as he stumbled over to the metal rungs and started heading downwards.

 “If I get to the bottom and don’t see you bitches behind me I’m kicking all of your asses.” He snarled while choking through the stench.

They didn’t make him wait too long. The waning sun of the afternoon dissolved into shade and darkness of the tunnel as it started getting darker, darker until shadow was all that remained of the light around them. The telltale drip of old sewer lines echoed down the tight hallways and low ceilings were enough to make even the most seasoned claustrophobic.

 Elyse and James had hands up and pins flashing on their jackets as small spheres of light danced around the group, casting lights on the deep tunnels that stretched into oblivion, and Bruce glanced around with a heartfelt sigh.

 “It really does smell like ass in here, huh?” James observed as they started walking.

 Matt looked over his shoulder as Adam came up to the front of the group, “Did we find out how to figure out where we’re going?”

“Well, I have one obvious idea,” Adam replied, and he pressed two fingers to the arrow pin on his lapel, courtesy of one God of revelry.

 A spark of white light burst from his fingers and crackled through the air when suddenly a glowing arrow beamed from the ground. Then another in front of it, and another, and another…

 Soon, the entire floor was blinking with a collection of carefully drawn glyphs pointing them down the way and around the corner. Each arrow appeared to be decorated with holly and berries in their glyphs on the floor as Adam tried to hide his satisfied smile.

“Alright. Step one done. That’s good,” Lawrence stated as they followed down the arrows, “Now hopefully we won’t run into any of the awful monsters down here and we’ll be fine.”

“I’m sorry, _monsters?”_ Elyse paled.

 “Yeah. All the magic in this city and you don’t think anyone’s ever summoned creepy shit they didn’t want to get rid of?” Lawrence adjusted his glasses, “where else are you gonna put them.”

“Maybe a pocket dimension,” Matt muttered amusedly, “a little bit less messy.”

It was almost inevitable that they would hear a loud snarl of something from deep within the pipelines. An otherworldly roar that nearly made Adam turn around and leave immediately. The more he thought about it, however, the more he figured that it couldn’t be all that bad.

A beast would probably be fast about killing him, anyway. After the fangs of the Iron Maiden; a beast’s teeth were the least of his problems. He shuddered for a moment, refocused, and stuck his eyes to the arrows as they followed along.

 For the most part, the walk was in silence. The group kept their eyes peeled and their ears to the wall as the dim light of Elyse and James’ magic made it feel like wandering through a fish tank. Their feet seemed to echo with each step until they came to a four-way junction where the arrows seemed to stop.

 “Alright, Adam,” Bruce pointed forward, “We need a little more juice.”

“Right, right.”

 His boots scuffled forward across the concrete as his hand reached towards his pin.

And at that moment, a heavy, ugly talon slammed into the ground in front of him. It was huge, at least as big as Adam was tall as an ugly scratched nail carved a line in the concrete. Adam stumbled backward, Matt catching him and pulling him back as a heavy hiss reverberated across the concrete.

 Then a giant snakehead poked out of one of the intersecting tunnels, eyes glowing amber like a volcano’s core and ebony scales that blended into the shadow as another heavy claw pulled its massive form out from one of the tunnels.

 It seemed to slink through like it was made for it as two more snakeheads emerged. Three sets of glowing eyes each turned to face the group as the heads slinked around, and the huge core of the beast trundled out afterward.

“Hy-hydra,” Bruce gulped as one head’s mouth opened wide. Fangs as huge as Bruce dripped with an acrid blue liquid as it stumbled out and stared at them all like it was staring down its next meal.

 Then one head charged forward. Huge fangs slammed into the concrete as Bruce jumped back with a leap, and James’ white wing on the back of his jacket flashed brightly as he teleported forward in a flash. The second head struck out at him and he jumped, landing on top of the other head just as it removed itself from the ground.

Adam’s fireball pin started to flicker and smoke against his chest as he lifted one hand and shot a sphere of flame in the monster’s direction. It engulfed the first head, causing it to reel backward in pain as James grabbed at another pin at his side.

 “Alright – calm the fuck down snake-lizard fuck!” James yelled, lifting a hand upwards as glimmering chains blasted downward and wrapped its way around its mouth and neck before pulling it right to the ground.

 “Alright – don’t behead it until Adam’s ready to blast it with fire!”

 A third head threaded the gap and bashed into Bruce’s shoulder. He when flying backward as Adam filled in the gap to see it hiss with a flapping blue tongue as Matt slid beneath him with a run only a stunt actor could love.

 Lawrence rolled his eyes, “I’m really gonna have to read up on some myth-stuff later,” he grumbled as he stepped out of the way for Bruce and Matt to pick up the pace. The pair counted on their usual aura-blade pins to pull out their strength. Huge surges of purple and blue burst from each of their hands as they dragged the force through the heads of the creatures as Elyse pressed a hand against Adam’s back, and with an extra surge of strength, he let loose a torrent of flame.

 As the smoke cleared, three scorched and cauterized necks fell to the ground as three heads hit the sewer ground with a heavy thunk.

  There was a collective breath of relief for a moment before Elyse went over to Bruce and started pulling his jacket off. Healing energy was already pulsing from her hands on his bruised wound before they could say anything.

 Adam and Matt couldn’t take their eyes off one of the necks, however. As the strange, fish-like scent from the roasted started to fill the room. Matt pulled his arm over his nose to guard his senses, but Adam’s eyes were on one of the necks. The scorch marks framed the neck, the slimy innards, and even the scaly skin, but something didn’t quite sit with him right as James jumped downright next to it.

 Then, Adam felt something. His family pin flashed as a strange alien feeling stuck to him. Suddenly his brain was like gelatin. Sticky, gross, foggy. A dull ache rushed through him as he felt something breath through like a torrential storm.

 His body moved before his mind could give him clear instructions. Adam booked it across the tunnel, jumping towards James and tackling him to the ground as two identical snakeheads burst from the neck and lurched forward with open mouths. Two fangs nearly caught James from right under his arms as Adam knocked him to the ground just in time.

 Matt made a gesture with his hands, pressed his palms together and pointed at the two new heads with his fingers. A great white shark enamel pin on his jacket flickered with blue light, and in a flash, two razor-thin waves blasted from his fingertips in large blue arcs. With a slick, wet sound the heads fell from the body, and for the second time Adam lifted his hand and let fire burst from his palm, ignoring the way James was staring at him from the ground as red flames licked against the creature, silencing its final death throes with necks scorched black.

 Adam let out a deep breath, his chest falling and his whole body fell backward into James’ waiting arms.

 Adam’s mistake was tilting his head and seeing a pair of crystal blue eyes staring right back at him. James was staring at him, jaw partially agape, and a sweaty complexion caking hair to his brow; it made Adam relieved that the heat from his flame was likely hiding the shades of red hitting his cheeks.

 He pulled himself up and hauled James up with him. As they were watching, Bruce ran over and kicked the neck stump over with the side of his foot.

“Fuck you, snake thing!” Bruce huffed with an incensed frown.

  The group gathered their bearings. Adam shivered on the spot, trying not to think about the gross reptile scent that was already sticking to his jacket. Finding themselves in a sewer was good enough motivation to keep going, especially when Lawrence looked ready to get up and abandon the whole thing every second.

“It’s fucking awful,” Lawrence cursed, “God... just – let’s get the hell out of here.”

“It’s not that bad,” Matt muttered, with his collar pulled up over his mouth and nose.

 Adam ignored the ongoing conversation as something surged up his spine. A pin on his jacket sparked and shivered as he traced his hand down one of the tunnels.

“Everything alright?” Elyse stumbled in after him.

 The tunnel got dark pretty quickly as the backed away from the rest of the group, but Adam’s eyes were on the wall. He gave a passing nod to Elyse as she came up behind him, but he was following the unusual sensation trailing up his arm.

 And trying not to think about the look he shared with James on the ground.

 Eventually, the buzzing went away, and Adam’s focus came onto one strange brick in the wall. The first thing he noticed was that it was warm. A hearth fire heat pressed against his hand. He paused. When he moved his hand to another brick, it was the same flat cold of the rest of the sewers.

  “Hey, Elyse,” Adam whispered as she pulled in closer, “Take a look at this.”

 He gestured to the brick, and she blinked at him, “Alright… I’m looking at a brick.”

“No that’s not – here,” and he took her wrist, then pressed her palm against the brick.

Her eyes lit up.

 “Yeah – it’s warm.”

“Oh thank god I thought I was going crazy,” Adam chuckled, “I think this is where we need to go.”

“Yeah? What makes you think that?”

He nudged the lock-shaped pin on his collar, “It’s kind of like at the _Bacchae,_ I just start getting this feeling from the pin.

“You were the one picked by a God for a reason,” Elyse smiled, “Maybe that has something to do with it too.”

Adam turned back to Elyse as she patted him on the shoulder gently, “Yeah. Everyone seems to think I’m a big deal or something.”

“I mean, I think they’ve hit the nail on the head for that.”

He scoffed a little and his attention drifted back towards the lights from the rest of the group. Elyse picked up on it right away, however. A dull ache right across the heart. A sense that Adam was ignoring something that she was seeing clearly all of a sudden. That she was seeing the reason why someone would choose him after everyone else.

 “Hey guys, we found something!”

What mattered now was that he didn’t see it, even as gifts given to him by the Gods were tugging him forward. He was the arrowhead that would open the way for the rest of them.

 Elyse had an epiphany in the depths of a sewer about the man they found in similarly low positions. About a man that she knew could make all the differences in this twisted city.

 The group gathered around as Adam found the brick with his fingertips once more. Lawrence did his best to step over the mythic creature without tripping on its corpse, but a hand from Bruce managed to keep him from toppling over like a JENGA tower. James came up behind Elyse and wrapped his arm around her waist before pressing a kiss to her temple.

“I think I might die before we actually pull the trigger on this,” he whispered into her ear.

 She replied with a kiss to his cheek, “We’re almost there Willems. But also, thanks for takin' one for the team.”

He laughed half-heartedly, “Yeah… that was a plan. All orchestrated by me, a genius.”

It earned him a smile and a punch to the ribs, but they didn’t have much time to admire it as a golden sunburst glow erupted from the wall. All eyes were on Adam in a second as the image of a golden key emerged from his hands and hovered in the air. With a quick swing, it pushed itself into the heated brick, started to turn, then disappeared with a loud click that rang through the tunnel.

 Funhaus took a step back, over the water of the sewer, away from the brick wall as one brick started glowing gold, then another, until it was spreading across the wall like a luminous infection. As the bricks started to glow, the ones before them started to disappear, fading into sparkling dust as a doorway revealed itself in the wall. An ornate arch door split open in front of them, and green-leaved vines spread outwards along the bricks. Warm air rushed forward as a calm summer breeze.

 Adam let out the air from his chest -a breath he was perhaps holding for a little too long as he stepped towards the doorway.

 “Guess this is the way,” Adam shrugged.

 James’ hand clapped his shoulder, grinning at Adam as he ruffled his hair, and started walking towards the door.

 “No way to go but forward,” Matt yawned, “So let’s get going.”

 With James already a few steps forward, the rest of the group fell into marching order behind him as they pulled in through the archway entrance. Adam came up last after Elyse shot the dazed Adam the slightest of winks before going in. Adam fixed his hair roughly with his fingers and then sprinted after the group before they could get away.

 A shimmering of gold dust in the air coalesced over the arched doorway, and soon it was hidden once more behind old sewer wall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, it's been a while. Thanks for staying tuned.


End file.
